Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) EVP Sells $7,679,499.00 in Stock

Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) EVP David M. Reese sold 25,225 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $304.44, for a total transaction of $7,679,499.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 36,922 shares in the company, valued at $11,240,533.68. The trade was a 40.59 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website.

Amgen Trading Up 1.7 %

Shares of NASDAQ:AMGN traded up $5.08 on Friday, hitting $303.01. The company had a trading volume of 3,260,757 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,124,757. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $275.62 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $300.75. Amgen Inc. has a 1 year low of $253.30 and a 1 year high of $346.85. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.62. The firm has a market capitalization of $162.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.13, a P/E/G ratio of 2.55 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 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 20.6 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. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be given a $2.38 dividend. This represents a $9.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.14%. This is a boost from Amgen’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.25. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 126.09%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently commented on AMGN. Bank of America increased their price target on shares of Amgen from $256.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $324.00 target price on shares of Amgen in a report on Friday, January 24th. Leerink Partners reduced their target price on shares of Amgen from $349.00 to $302.00 in a report on Wednesday, November 27th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on shares of Amgen from $335.00 to $280.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Citigroup reduced their target price on shares of Amgen from $310.00 to $295.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Two 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 stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $314.09.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Amgen

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of AMGN. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Amgen by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 52,721,795 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $13,741,409,000 after acquiring an additional 339,522 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its position in Amgen by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 29,317,018 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $9,446,236,000 after acquiring an additional 345,537 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in Amgen by 25.4% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 13,205,604 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $3,441,909,000 after acquiring an additional 2,672,975 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Amgen by 2.9% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 12,475,032 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $3,245,881,000 after buying an additional 352,143 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital International Investors raised its holdings in Amgen by 40.1% in the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 12,212,065 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $3,182,843,000 after buying an additional 3,495,503 shares during the last quarter. 76.50% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.