Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) Shares Acquired by Alberta Investment Management Corp

Alberta Investment Management Corp raised its stake in shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN - Free Report) by 349.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 98,076 shares of the medical research company's stock after purchasing an additional 76,232 shares during the period. Alberta Investment Management Corp's holdings in Amgen were worth $25,563,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of AMGN. Capital Performance Advisors LLP purchased a new stake in Amgen during the third quarter worth approximately $25,000. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC acquired a new position in shares of Amgen during the 3rd quarter valued at $29,000. Heck Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Amgen during the 4th quarter worth $36,000. PrairieView Partners LLC increased its holdings in Amgen by 118.3% in the 4th quarter. PrairieView Partners LLC now owns 179 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $46,000 after purchasing an additional 97 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of Jackson Hole Trust purchased a new position in Amgen in the fourth quarter valued at about $50,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.50% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently commented on AMGN shares. Wolfe Research began coverage on Amgen in a report on Friday, November 15th. They set a "peer perform" rating on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their price objective on shares of Amgen from $305.00 to $285.00 in a research note on Wednesday, November 27th. William Blair restated an "outperform" rating on shares of Amgen in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. UBS Group dropped their price target on shares of Amgen from $335.00 to $326.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Amgen from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Amgen currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $314.09.

Amgen Stock Performance

NASDAQ AMGN traded up $5.08 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $303.01. The company's stock had a trading volume of 3,203,645 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,083,469. The company has a current ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.62. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $275.62 and a 200 day simple moving average of $300.75. Amgen Inc. has a 52 week low of $253.30 and a 52 week high of $346.85. The stock has a market cap of $162.78 billion, a PE ratio of 40.13, a PEG ratio of 2.55 and a beta of 0.56.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The medical research company reported $5.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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%. Equities research analysts predict that Amgen Inc. will post 20.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Amgen Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be issued a dividend of $2.38 per share. This is an increase 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 3.14%. Amgen's payout ratio is 126.09%.

Insider Transactions at Amgen

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 transaction of $2,585,603.09. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 44,186 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,025,590.94. The trade was a 16.56 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, SVP Nancy A. Grygiel sold 1,589 shares of the firm's 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 completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 7,210 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 35,405 shares of company stock worth $10,410,596. Insiders own 0.69% of the company's stock.

Amgen Company 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.