Naviter Wealth LLC Boosts Stake in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Naviter Wealth LLC raised its stake in shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 33.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 7,104 shares of the medical research company’s stock after buying an additional 1,791 shares during the quarter. Naviter Wealth LLC’s holdings in Amgen were worth $1,852,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of AMGN. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Amgen by 25.4% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 13,205,604 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $3,441,909,000 after purchasing an additional 2,672,975 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Amgen in the fourth quarter valued at $401,913,000. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its stake in Amgen by 263.8% in the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,038,593 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $270,699,000 after purchasing an additional 753,147 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its position in Amgen by 40.7% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,338,665 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $609,526,000 after buying an additional 676,598 shares during the period. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its stake in Amgen by 11.7% in the 3rd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 5,143,330 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,657,183,000 after buying an additional 538,545 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.50% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Amgen

In other Amgen news, SVP Nancy A. Grygiel sold 1,589 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $304.47, for a total transaction of $483,802.83. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 7,210 shares in the company, valued at $2,195,228.70. This represents a 18.06 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP David M. Reese sold 25,225 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $304.44, for a total transaction of $7,679,499.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 36,922 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,240,533.68. This represents a 40.59 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 69,341 shares of company stock valued at $20,644,335. 0.69% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently commented on AMGN. Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of Amgen from $275.00 to $294.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Citigroup reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of Amgen in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. William Blair reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Amgen in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $380.00 price objective on shares of Amgen in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Finally, UBS Group reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Amgen in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $314.95.

Amgen Stock Performance

Amgen stock opened at $324.86 on Friday. Amgen Inc. has a 12-month low of $253.30 and a 12-month high of $346.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.62, a current ratio of 1.26 and a quick ratio of 0.95. The company has a market capitalization of $174.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 0.53. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $286.14 and its 200 day moving average price is $299.69.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The medical research company reported $5.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.04 by $0.27. Amgen had a return on equity of 176.32% and a net margin of 12.24%. On average, research analysts forecast that Amgen Inc. will post 20.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Amgen Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 16th will be paid a dividend of $2.38 per share. This represents a $9.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.93%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 16th. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 126.09%.

Amgen Company Profile

Amgen Inc discovers, develops, manufactures, and delivers human therapeutics worldwide. The company's principal products include Enbrel to treat plaque psoriasis, rheumatoid arthritis, and psoriatic arthritis; Otezla for the treatment of adult patients with plaque psoriasis, psoriatic arthritis, and oral ulcers associated with Behçet's disease; Prolia to treat postmenopausal women with osteoporosis; XGEVA for skeletal-related events prevention; Repatha, which reduces the risks of myocardial infarction, stroke, and coronary revascularization; Nplate for the treatment of patients with immune thrombocytopenia; KYPROLIS to treat patients with relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma; Aranesp to treat a lower-than-normal number of red blood cells and anemia; EVENITY for the treatment of osteoporosis in postmenopausal for men and women; Vectibix to treat patients with wild-type RAS metastatic colorectal cancer; BLINCYTO for the treatment of patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia; TEPEZZA to treat thyroid eye disease; and KRYSTEXXA for the treatment of chronic refractory gout.