Capital World Investors Purchases 6,029,058 Shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Capital World Investors increased its holdings in shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN - Free Report) by 1,292.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 6,495,710 shares of the medical research company's stock after purchasing an additional 6,029,058 shares during the quarter. Capital World Investors owned 1.21% of Amgen worth $1,693,042,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Talbot Financial LLC increased its holdings in Amgen by 5.6% during the 4th quarter. Talbot Financial LLC now owns 42,791 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $11,153,000 after purchasing an additional 2,274 shares in the last quarter. Asset Advisors Investment Management LLC raised its position in Amgen by 9.0% in the 3rd quarter. Asset Advisors Investment Management LLC now owns 35,934 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $11,578,000 after buying an additional 2,954 shares during the last quarter. Ascent Wealth Partners LLC boosted its position in Amgen by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Ascent Wealth Partners LLC now owns 9,024 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $2,352,000 after acquiring an additional 64 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Amgen by 6.0% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 635,172 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $204,659,000 after acquiring an additional 35,785 shares in the last quarter. Finally, ICICI Prudential Asset Management Co Ltd raised its holdings in shares of Amgen by 242.2% in the fourth quarter. ICICI Prudential Asset Management Co Ltd now owns 23,999 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $6,255,000 after purchasing an additional 16,985 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.50% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AMGN has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. StockNews.com downgraded Amgen from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. UBS Group increased their price objective on Amgen from $315.00 to $319.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday, April 14th. Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of Amgen from $275.00 to $294.00 and gave the stock an "underperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Piper Sandler increased their price target 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. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald initiated coverage on shares of Amgen in a research note on Tuesday. They set a "neutral" rating and a $305.00 price objective on the stock. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Amgen currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $310.57.

Amgen Price Performance

AMGN stock traded up $1.14 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $279.04. 1,103,329 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,783,636. The stock has a market capitalization of $150.02 billion, a PE ratio of 36.98, a P/E/G ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 0.59. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $301.98 and a 200 day moving average price of $293.34. 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 52 week low of $253.30 and a 52 week high of $346.85.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The medical research company reported $5.31 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $5.04 by $0.27. Amgen had a net margin of 12.24% and a return on equity of 176.32%. As a group, analysts expect that Amgen Inc. will post 20.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Amgen Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 16th will be issued a dividend of $2.38 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 16th. This represents a $9.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.41%. Amgen's payout ratio is 126.09%.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP David M. Reese sold 25,225 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 21st. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at approximately $11,240,533.68. This represents a 40.59 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Nancy A. Grygiel sold 1,589 shares of the business'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 transaction of $483,802.83. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 7,210 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,195,228.70. This represents a 18.06 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 69,341 shares of company stock worth $20,644,335 over the last 90 days. 0.69% of the stock is currently 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.