bLong Financial LLC Takes Position in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

bLong Financial LLC purchased a new position in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 2,950 shares of the medical research company's stock, valued at approximately $769,000. Amgen makes up about 0.6% of bLong Financial LLC's holdings, making the stock its 29th largest position.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AMGN. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC grew its position in shares of Amgen by 33,125.4% during the third quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 4,460,181 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $1,437,115,000 after buying an additional 4,446,757 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Amgen by 6,812.4% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 2,523,387 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $8,130,610,000 after purchasing an additional 2,486,882 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its holdings in Amgen by 561.5% during the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,539,733 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $496,117,000 after purchasing an additional 1,306,982 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its holdings in Amgen by 263.8% in the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,038,593 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $270,699,000 after acquiring an additional 753,147 shares during the period. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its position in shares of Amgen by 40.7% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,338,665 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $609,526,000 after acquiring an additional 676,598 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.50% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AMGN has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. William Blair reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of Amgen in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on Amgen from $335.00 to $280.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 10th. Piper Sandler upped their price target on Amgen from $310.00 to $329.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Truist Financial reduced their price target on shares of Amgen from $333.00 to $298.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, Redburn Partners lowered their price objective on shares of Amgen from $200.00 to $195.00 in a research note on Wednesday, November 27th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Amgen presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $314.09.

Insider Activity at Amgen

In other Amgen news, EVP Jonathan P. Graham sold 25,045 shares of the firm's 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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 28,987 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $8,496,669.44. This trade represents a 46.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Murdo Gordon sold 8,771 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $294.79, for a total value of $2,585,603.09. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 44,186 shares in the company, valued at $13,025,590.94. This trade represents a 16.56 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 35,405 shares of company stock valued at $10,410,596. Corporate insiders own 0.69% of the company's stock.

Amgen Stock Up 0.5 %

AMGN traded up $1.47 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $294.27. The company had a trading volume of 2,806,841 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,145,679. Amgen Inc. has a 52 week low of $253.30 and a 52 week high of $346.85. The company has a market capitalization of $158.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.98, a PEG ratio of 2.53 and a beta of 0.56. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $274.73 and its 200 day moving average price is $300.81. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.62.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The medical research company reported $5.31 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.04 by $0.27. Amgen had a net margin of 12.24% and a return on equity of 176.32%. On average, research analysts anticipate that Amgen Inc. will post 20.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Amgen Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed 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. This represents a $9.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.24%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. Amgen's payout ratio is currently 126.09%.

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.