BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S Makes New Investment in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S purchased a new stake in shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund purchased 29,754 shares of the medical research company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,755,000.

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Virtu Financial LLC bought a new stake in shares of Amgen in the third quarter valued at about $1,588,000. Morse Asset Management Inc bought a new stake in shares of Amgen in the 3rd quarter valued at about $806,000. Tudor Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Amgen in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $3,281,000. World Investment Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Amgen by 48.4% during the third quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC now owns 11,083 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $3,571,000 after purchasing an additional 3,616 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Arvest Bank Trust Division bought a new position in shares of Amgen during the third quarter valued at approximately $408,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.50% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have weighed in on AMGN. Bank of America upped their target price on Amgen from $275.00 to $294.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. StockNews.com downgraded Amgen from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Amgen from $328.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Amgen from $315.00 to $319.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, April 14th. Finally, Johnson Rice set a $294.00 price objective on shares of Amgen in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Amgen presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $314.91.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP David M. Reese sold 25,225 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $304.44, for a total transaction of $7,679,499.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 36,922 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,240,533.68. This trade represents a 40.59 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Jonathan P. Graham sold 25,045 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $293.12, for a total transaction of $7,341,190.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 28,987 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,496,669.44. This trade represents a 46.35 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 69,341 shares of company stock valued at $20,644,335 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.69% of the company’s stock.

Amgen Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:AMGN opened at $277.29 on Friday. 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 Inc. has a twelve month low of $253.30 and a twelve month high of $346.85. The company’s 50 day moving average is $303.04 and its 200 day moving average is $294.04. The company has a market cap of $149.09 billion, a PE ratio of 36.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 0.59.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The medical research company reported $5.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Amgen Inc. will post 20.62 EPS for the current 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 3.43%. Amgen’s payout ratio is 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.