Financial Counselors Inc. Acquires 7,876 Shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Financial Counselors Inc. boosted its holdings in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 10.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 82,499 shares of the medical research company’s stock after purchasing an additional 7,876 shares during the period. Financial Counselors Inc.’s holdings in Amgen were worth $21,503,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Centricity Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Amgen during the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC bought a new position in shares of Amgen in the third quarter worth approximately $29,000. Synergy Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Amgen in the fourth quarter worth approximately $34,000. Atala Financial Inc bought a new stake in Amgen during the 4th quarter valued at $34,000. Finally, Heck Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Amgen during the 4th quarter valued at $36,000. 76.50% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently commented on AMGN shares. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on shares of Amgen from $310.00 to $329.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Bank of America upped their price target on Amgen from $275.00 to $294.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Truist Financial reduced their target price on Amgen from $333.00 to $298.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $324.00 price target on shares of Amgen in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Citigroup reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Amgen in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. 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 assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $314.04.

Amgen Stock Down 2.4 %

Shares of Amgen stock opened at $306.86 on Wednesday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $298.92 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $298.41. The stock has a market capitalization of $164.85 billion, a PE ratio of 40.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 0.53. Amgen Inc. has a 52-week low of $253.30 and a 52-week high of $346.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.62, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 1.26.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The medical research company reported $5.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.04 by $0.27. Amgen had a return on equity of 176.32% and a net margin of 12.24%. On average, analysts anticipate that Amgen Inc. will post 20.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Amgen Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 16th will be paid a dividend of $2.38 per share. This represents a $9.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.10%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 16th. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio is currently 126.09%.

Insider Activity

In other Amgen news, SVP Nancy A. Grygiel sold 1,589 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 directly owns 7,210 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,195,228.70. The trade was a 18.06 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP David M. Reese sold 8,711 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $293.22, for a total value of $2,554,239.42. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 62,147 shares in the company, valued at $18,222,743.34. The trade was a 12.29 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 69,341 shares of company stock valued at $20,644,335 in the last 90 days. 0.69% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.