Sterling Investment Advisors Ltd. Sells 98 Shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Sterling Investment Advisors Ltd. decreased its holdings in shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 0.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 12,767 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 98 shares during the quarter. Sterling Investment Advisors Ltd.’s holdings in Amgen were worth $3,328,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of AMGN. Capital Performance Advisors LLP purchased a new stake in shares of Amgen in the third quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Centricity Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Amgen during the fourth quarter worth $25,000. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC purchased a new stake in Amgen during the third quarter worth $29,000. Heck Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Amgen during the fourth quarter worth $36,000. Finally, PrairieView Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Amgen by 118.3% during the fourth quarter. PrairieView Partners LLC now owns 179 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $46,000 after buying an additional 97 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 76.50% of the company’s stock.

Amgen Trading Up 2.2 %

AMGN stock opened at $309.72 on Tuesday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $277.14 and its 200-day simple moving average is $300.20. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.62. Amgen Inc. has a 52-week low of $253.30 and a 52-week high of $346.85. The firm has a market cap of $166.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.02, a PEG ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 0.56.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last posted 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%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Amgen Inc. will post 20.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Amgen Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th will be paid a $2.38 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. This is a positive change from Amgen’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.25. This represents a $9.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.07%. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 126.09%.

Insider Activity at Amgen

In related 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 value of $483,802.83. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 7,210 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,195,228.70. This trade represents a 18.06 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Murdo Gordon sold 8,771 shares of the firm’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 transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 44,186 shares in the company, valued at $13,025,590.94. This represents a 16.56 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 69,341 shares of company stock valued at $20,644,335. 0.69% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently commented on AMGN. Bank of America increased their price objective on Amgen from $256.00 to $275.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on Amgen from $310.00 to $329.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, February 10th. Truist Financial decreased their price objective on Amgen from $333.00 to $298.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Wells Fargo & Company reissued an “equal weight” rating on shares of Amgen in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Redburn Partners cut their target price on Amgen from $200.00 to $195.00 in a research report on Wednesday, November 27th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Amgen presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $314.09.

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.