Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) Given Consensus Recommendation of "Hold" by Brokerages

Shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN - Get Free Report) have received a consensus rating of "Hold" from the twenty-three brokerages that are covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, nine have issued a hold recommendation, eleven have assigned a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price target among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $314.91.

AMGN has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Amgen from $315.00 to $319.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an "outperform" rating and set a $324.00 price target on shares of Amgen in a report on Friday, January 24th. Piper Sandler Companies reiterated an "overweight" rating and set a $310.00 price objective on shares of Amgen in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on Amgen from $310.00 to $329.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Finally, Citigroup reaffirmed a "neutral" rating on shares of Amgen in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th.

Insider Activity at Amgen

In other Amgen news, EVP David M. Reese sold 25,225 shares of Amgen stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $304.44, for a total transaction of $7,679,499.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 36,922 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $11,240,533.68. The trade was a 40.59 % 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, SVP Nancy A. Grygiel sold 1,589 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $304.47, for a total value of $483,802.83. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 7,210 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,195,228.70. The trade was a 18.06 % 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 over the last quarter. 0.69% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Amgen

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in AMGN. Centricity Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Amgen during the fourth quarter worth approximately $25,000. Pinney & Scofield Inc. acquired a new stake in Amgen during the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. Ritter Daniher Financial Advisory LLC DE raised its position in Amgen by 66.2% in the 4th quarter. Ritter Daniher Financial Advisory LLC DE now owns 128 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 51 shares during the last quarter. Synergy Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Amgen in the fourth quarter worth $34,000. Finally, Atala Financial Inc acquired a new stake in shares of Amgen in the fourth quarter valued at $34,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.50% of the company's stock.

Amgen Stock Down 1.9 %

NASDAQ:AMGN traded down $5.35 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $277.29. 4,371,822 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,793,769. The firm has a market cap of $149.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.73, a PEG ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 0.59. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $303.04 and a 200 day moving average price of $293.88. The company has a current ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.62. Amgen has a fifty-two week low of $253.30 and a fifty-two week high of $346.85.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 anticipate that Amgen will post 20.62 earnings per share for the current year.

Amgen Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 16th will be given a dividend of $2.38 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 16th. This represents a $9.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.43%. Amgen's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 126.09%.

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.