Blair William & Co. IL Lowers Stock Position in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Blair William & Co. IL lessened its stake in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 10.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 178,596 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 21,709 shares during the period. Blair William & Co. IL’s holdings in Amgen were worth $46,549,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in Amgen by 25.4% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 13,205,604 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $3,441,909,000 after acquiring an additional 2,672,975 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of Amgen during the 4th quarter valued at about $401,913,000. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its holdings in shares of Amgen by 263.8% during the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,038,593 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $270,699,000 after buying an additional 753,147 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its position in Amgen by 40.7% in the 4th 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 last quarter. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its stake in Amgen by 11.7% in the third 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 in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.50% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other Amgen news, SVP Nancy A. Grygiel sold 1,589 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $304.47, for a total transaction of $483,802.83. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 7,210 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,195,228.70. This trade represents a 18.06 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP David M. Reese sold 8,711 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $293.22, for a total transaction of $2,554,239.42. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 62,147 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,222,743.34. This represents a 12.29 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 69,341 shares of company stock worth $20,644,335 over the last three months. 0.69% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Amgen Price Performance

AMGN opened at $305.77 on Friday. Amgen Inc. has a 12-month low of $253.30 and a 12-month high of $346.85. The company has a market cap of $164.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 0.53. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $300.39 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $298.51. The company has a current ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.62.

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

Amgen Announces Dividend

The business 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 $2.38 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 16th. This represents a $9.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.11%. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio is currently 126.09%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on AMGN shares. Wells Fargo & Company restated an “equal weight” rating on shares of Amgen in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. UBS Group restated a “hold” rating on shares of Amgen in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Piper Sandler Companies reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $310.00 price objective on shares of Amgen in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Bank of America boosted their target price on Amgen from $275.00 to $294.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Finally, Johnson Rice set a $294.00 price target on Amgen in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Two 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 company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Amgen presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $314.04.

Amgen 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.