White Pine Capital LLC Acquires 61 Shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

White Pine Capital LLC grew its holdings in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 5.6% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 1,149 shares of the medical research company’s stock after purchasing an additional 61 shares during the quarter. White Pine Capital LLC’s holdings in Amgen were worth $299,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. First Merchants Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Amgen by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. First Merchants Corp now owns 12,261 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $3,196,000 after purchasing an additional 52 shares in the last quarter. Palacios Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Amgen in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,405,000. Root Financial Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Amgen by 18.1% in the fourth quarter. Root Financial Partners LLC now owns 769 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $200,000 after buying an additional 118 shares during the period. Bogart Wealth LLC increased its position in shares of Amgen by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Bogart Wealth LLC now owns 20,113 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $5,242,000 after acquiring an additional 74 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Pathway Financial Advisers LLC raised its holdings in shares of Amgen by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 13,975 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $3,642,000 after acquiring an additional 132 shares during the period. 76.50% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Amgen Trading Up 0.6 %

AMGN stock opened at $296.97 on Friday. Amgen Inc. has a one year low of $253.30 and a one year high of $346.85. The stock has a market cap of $159.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.56. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $273.29 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $302.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.62, a current ratio of 1.26 and a quick ratio of 0.96.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The medical research company reported $5.31 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%. Equities analysts anticipate that Amgen Inc. will post 20.59 EPS for the current year.

Amgen Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be paid a dividend of $2.38 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $9.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.21%. This is a positive change from Amgen’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.25. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 119.21%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Amgen news, SVP Nancy A. Grygiel sold 1,589 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $304.47, for a total transaction of $483,802.83. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 7,210 shares in the company, valued at $2,195,228.70. This trade represents a 18.06 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Murdo Gordon sold 8,771 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $294.79, for a total transaction of $2,585,603.09. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 44,186 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,025,590.94. The trade was a 16.56 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 35,405 shares of company stock valued at $10,410,596. Insiders own 0.69% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have issued reports on AMGN. Leerink Partners lowered their target price on Amgen from $349.00 to $302.00 in a report on Wednesday, November 27th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their price objective on Amgen from $305.00 to $285.00 in a report on Wednesday, November 27th. TD Cowen boosted their target price on Amgen from $381.00 to $383.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $405.00 price target on shares of Amgen in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Amgen in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $314.09.

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.