Liberty Wealth Management LLC Has $663,000 Position in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Liberty Wealth Management LLC grew its position in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 2.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,545 shares of the medical research company’s stock after buying an additional 62 shares during the quarter. Liberty Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Amgen were worth $663,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in AMGN. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Amgen by 25.4% in 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 buying an additional 2,672,975 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in Amgen during the 4th quarter worth approximately $401,913,000. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its position in Amgen by 263.8% during the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,038,593 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $270,699,000 after purchasing an additional 753,147 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its position in Amgen by 40.7% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,338,665 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $609,526,000 after purchasing an additional 676,598 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its position in Amgen by 11.7% during the 3rd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 5,143,330 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,657,183,000 after purchasing an additional 538,545 shares in the last quarter. 76.50% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AMGN has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $324.00 price objective on shares of Amgen in a research 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. UBS Group reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Amgen in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Citigroup reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Amgen in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their target price on shares of Amgen from $305.00 to $285.00 in a report on Wednesday, November 27th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $314.04.

Amgen Stock Down 2.6 %

Amgen stock opened at $318.89 on Wednesday. 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’s fifty day moving average is $288.66 and its 200 day moving average is $299.43. Amgen Inc. has a 12-month low of $253.30 and a 12-month high of $346.85. The company has a market capitalization of $171.31 billion, a PE ratio of 42.24, a PEG ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 0.53.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The medical research company reported $5.31 earnings per share 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, sell-side analysts predict that Amgen Inc. will post 20.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Amgen Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 16th will be issued a dividend of $2.38 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 16th. This represents a $9.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.99%. Amgen’s payout ratio is 126.09%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Murdo Gordon sold 8,771 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $294.79, for a total value of $2,585,603.09. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Nancy A. Grygiel sold 1,589 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $304.47, for a total transaction of $483,802.83. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 69,341 shares of company stock worth $20,644,335. Insiders own 0.69% of the company’s stock.

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.