Quilter Plc Sells 215 Shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Quilter Plc reduced its stake in shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 5.7% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 3,534 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 215 shares during the quarter. Quilter Plc’s holdings in Amgen were worth $921,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Lansing Street Advisors raised its position in shares of Amgen by 1.3% in the third quarter. Lansing Street Advisors now owns 2,582 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $832,000 after buying an additional 32 shares during the last quarter. Unionview LLC increased its position in Amgen by 3.8% during the third quarter. Unionview LLC now owns 876 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $282,000 after purchasing an additional 32 shares during the last quarter. AM Investment Strategies LLC increased its position in Amgen by 0.4% during the third quarter. AM Investment Strategies LLC now owns 7,471 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $2,407,000 after purchasing an additional 33 shares during the last quarter. Avidian Wealth Enterprises LLC increased its position in Amgen by 0.6% during the third quarter. Avidian Wealth Enterprises LLC now owns 5,863 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,889,000 after purchasing an additional 33 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Beacon Financial Advisory LLC increased its position in Amgen by 4.6% during the third quarter. Beacon Financial Advisory LLC now owns 769 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $248,000 after purchasing an additional 34 shares during the last quarter. 76.50% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Nancy A. Grygiel sold 1,589 shares of the business’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 sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 7,210 shares in the company, valued at $2,195,228.70. The trade was 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. Insiders own 0.69% of the company’s stock.

Amgen Stock Down 1.4 %

AMGN stock opened at $293.54 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 0.96 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 $272.26 and its two-hundred day moving average is $303.00. The stock has a market cap of $157.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.88, a PEG ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.56.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The medical research company reported $5.31 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.04 by $0.27. Amgen had a net margin of 12.24% and a return on equity of 176.32%. Research analysts expect that Amgen Inc. will post 20.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Amgen Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be given a dividend of $2.38 per share. This is a positive change from Amgen’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.25. This represents a $9.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.24%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. Amgen’s payout ratio is presently 119.21%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently issued reports on AMGN. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $324.00 price objective on shares of Amgen in a research report on Friday, January 24th. TD Cowen increased their target price on shares of Amgen from $381.00 to $383.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Truist Financial lowered their target price on shares of Amgen from $333.00 to $298.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Piper Sandler Companies reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $310.00 target price on shares of Amgen in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein began coverage on shares of Amgen in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $380.00 target price for the company. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $313.23.

About Amgen

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.