Sovran Advisors LLC Makes New $1.14 Million Investment in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Sovran Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 4,273 shares of the medical research company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,141,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new stake in Amgen during the 3rd quarter worth $25,000. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC acquired a new position in Amgen during the third quarter worth about $29,000. Heck Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Amgen during the 4th quarter valued at about $36,000. Livelsberger Financial Advisory acquired a new stake in Amgen in the 3rd quarter valued at about $56,000. Finally, Kennebec Savings Bank purchased a new position in Amgen in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $57,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.50% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on AMGN shares. Sanford C. Bernstein started coverage on Amgen in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $380.00 price target for the company. Piper Sandler upped their target price on Amgen from $310.00 to $329.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday. Redburn Partners reduced their price target on Amgen from $200.00 to $195.00 in a report on Wednesday, November 27th. Bank of America boosted their price target on shares of Amgen from $256.00 to $275.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Amgen from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $314.09.

Amgen Stock Performance

Shares of Amgen stock opened at $296.66 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $159.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.62, a current ratio of 1.26 and a quick ratio of 0.96. The business has a 50-day moving average of $272.59 and a 200 day moving average of $302.50. Amgen Inc. has a 12 month low of $253.30 and a 12 month high of $346.85.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The medical research company reported $5.31 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%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Amgen Inc. will post 20.59 earnings per share for the current year.

Amgen Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be given a dividend of $2.38 per share. The ex-dividend date 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 is currently 119.21%.

Insider Transactions at Amgen

In other Amgen news, SVP Nancy A. Grygiel sold 1,589 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,195,228.70. This represents a 18.06 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Jonathan P. Graham sold 25,045 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $293.12, for a total transaction of $7,341,190.40. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 28,987 shares in the company, valued at $8,496,669.44. The trade was a 46.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.69% of the company’s stock.

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.