Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) Stock Position Reduced by SNS Financial Group LLC

SNS Financial Group LLC decreased its stake in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 8.4% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 5,212 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 475 shares during the quarter. SNS Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Amgen were worth $1,358,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of Amgen by 1.2% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 29,317,018 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $9,446,236,000 after acquiring an additional 345,537 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Amgen by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 12,122,889 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $3,893,771,000 after purchasing an additional 103,851 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Amgen by 2.4% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 10,532,629 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $3,393,718,000 after purchasing an additional 251,876 shares in the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its holdings in shares of 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 valued at $1,657,183,000 after buying an additional 538,545 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Pathway Financial Advisers LLC grew its stake in shares of Amgen by 33,125.4% in the 3rd quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 4,460,181 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,437,115,000 after buying an additional 4,446,757 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.50% of the company’s stock.

Amgen Trading Up 0.5 %

Amgen stock opened at $294.27 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $158.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.53 and a beta of 0.56. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.62. Amgen Inc. has a 12 month low of $253.30 and a 12 month high of $346.85. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $275.15 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $300.77.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The medical research company reported $5.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.04 by $0.27. Amgen had a return on equity of 176.32% and a net margin of 12.24%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Amgen Inc. will post 20.6 EPS for the current year.

Amgen Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be issued a $2.38 dividend. This is a positive change from Amgen’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.25. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $9.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.24%. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio is presently 126.09%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $380.00 price objective on shares of Amgen in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Amgen in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Truist Financial decreased their price objective on shares of Amgen from $333.00 to $298.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Piper Sandler Companies restated an “overweight” rating and set a $310.00 target price on shares of Amgen in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $324.00 price target on shares of Amgen in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $314.09.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Murdo Gordon sold 8,771 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $294.79, for a total value of $2,585,603.09. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 44,186 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,025,590.94. The trade was a 16.56 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Nancy A. Grygiel sold 1,589 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 $2,195,228.70. This represents a 18.06 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 35,405 shares of company stock worth $10,410,596 in the last quarter. 0.69% of the stock is owned by corporate 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.