Americana Partners LLC Sells 888 Shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Americana Partners LLC lowered its stake in shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN - Free Report) by 6.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 13,915 shares of the medical research company's stock after selling 888 shares during the period. Americana Partners LLC's holdings in Amgen were worth $3,627,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Capital Performance Advisors LLP bought a new stake in shares of Amgen during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $25,000. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC bought a new stake in Amgen in the 3rd quarter valued at $29,000. Heck Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Amgen in the 4th quarter valued at $36,000. Livelsberger Financial Advisory bought a new stake in Amgen in the 3rd quarter valued at $56,000. Finally, Kennebec Savings Bank bought a new stake in Amgen in the 3rd quarter valued at $57,000. Institutional investors own 76.50% of the company's stock.

Amgen Price Performance

NASDAQ:AMGN traded up $5.08 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $303.01. The company's stock had a trading volume of 3,260,757 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,124,757. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $276.27 and a 200-day simple moving average of $300.59. The company has a market capitalization of $162.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.13, a PEG ratio of 2.55 and a beta of 0.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.62, a current ratio of 1.26 and a quick ratio of 0.95. Amgen Inc. has a twelve month low of $253.30 and a twelve month high of $346.85.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The medical research company reported $5.31 earnings per share 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 20.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Amgen Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th will be paid a $2.38 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. This is a positive change from Amgen's previous quarterly dividend of $2.25. This represents a $9.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.14%. Amgen's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 126.09%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently weighed in on AMGN. Leerink Partners dropped their price target on Amgen from $349.00 to $302.00 in a research note on Wednesday, November 27th. Jefferies Financial Group restated a "buy" rating and issued a $380.00 price target on shares of Amgen in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on Amgen from $335.00 to $280.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on Amgen from $310.00 to $329.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, February 10th. Finally, Wolfe Research initiated coverage on Amgen in a report on Friday, November 15th. They issued a "peer perform" rating on the stock. Two research 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 company. According to MarketBeat.com, Amgen currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $314.09.

Insider Activity at Amgen

In other Amgen news, EVP Jonathan P. Graham sold 25,045 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $293.12, for a total value of $7,341,190.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 28,987 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,496,669.44. This trade represents a 46.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP David M. Reese sold 25,225 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $304.44, for a total value of $7,679,499.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 36,922 shares of the company's stock, valued at $11,240,533.68. This represents a 40.59 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 69,341 shares of company stock valued at $20,644,335 over the last ninety days. 0.69% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.