Bell Asset Management Ltd lifted its position in shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN - Free Report) by 142.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 18,743 shares of the medical research company's stock after purchasing an additional 11,010 shares during the quarter. Bell Asset Management Ltd's holdings in Amgen were worth $4,885,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.
Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of AMGN. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in shares of Amgen by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 239,354 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $77,122,000 after purchasing an additional 4,942 shares during the period. EP Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in Amgen by 10.1% in the third quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 32,852 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $10,585,000 after acquiring an additional 3,024 shares during the period. XTX Topco Ltd boosted its stake in Amgen by 179.1% in the third quarter. XTX Topco Ltd now owns 5,902 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $1,902,000 after acquiring an additional 3,787 shares during the last quarter. Bontempo Ohly Capital Mgmt LLC boosted its stake in Amgen by 5.2% in the third quarter. Bontempo Ohly Capital Mgmt LLC now owns 8,432 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $2,717,000 after acquiring an additional 419 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dunhill Financial LLC grew its position in shares of Amgen by 5.1% during the 3rd quarter. Dunhill Financial LLC now owns 1,098 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $354,000 after acquiring an additional 53 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.50% of the company's stock.
Amgen Stock Up 1.6 %
Amgen stock traded up $4.57 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $285.98. The stock had a trading volume of 3,466,932 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,777,164. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.62, a current ratio of 1.26 and a quick ratio of 0.95. The company has a market capitalization of $153.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.88, a PEG ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 0.59. Amgen Inc. has a one year low of $253.30 and a one year high of $346.85. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $304.33 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $295.27.
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 (EPS) 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 expect that Amgen Inc. will post 20.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.
Amgen Dividend Announcement
The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Investors of record on Friday, May 16th will be issued a $2.38 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 16th. This represents a $9.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.33%. Amgen's payout ratio is 126.09%.
Analyst Ratings Changes
Several equities analysts recently commented on the company. Bank of America upped their price objective on Amgen from $275.00 to $294.00 and gave the company an "underperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Johnson Rice set a $294.00 price target on Amgen in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an "outperform" rating and set a $324.00 price target on shares of Amgen in a research report on Friday, January 24th. StockNews.com raised shares of Amgen from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, UBS Group reissued a "hold" rating on shares of Amgen in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $315.22.
Check Out Our Latest Stock Analysis on Amgen
Insiders Place Their Bets
In other news, EVP Jonathan P. Graham sold 25,045 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $293.12, for a total transaction of $7,341,190.40. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 28,987 shares of the company's stock, valued at $8,496,669.44. This represents a 46.35 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Nancy A. Grygiel sold 1,589 shares of Amgen stock in a transaction 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 sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 7,210 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,195,228.70. The trade was a 18.06 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 69,341 shares of company stock valued at $20,644,335. 0.69% of the stock is owned by insiders.
About Amgen
(
Free Report)
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.
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