Bolthouse Investments LLC Buys New Shares in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Bolthouse Investments LLC purchased a new stake in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 1,850 shares of the medical research company's stock, valued at approximately $482,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Talbot Financial LLC increased its stake 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 acquiring an additional 2,274 shares during the period. Asset Advisors Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Amgen by 9.0% during the 3rd quarter. Asset Advisors Investment Management LLC now owns 35,934 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $11,578,000 after purchasing an additional 2,954 shares in the last quarter. Ascent Wealth Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Amgen by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Ascent Wealth Partners LLC now owns 9,024 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $2,352,000 after purchasing an additional 64 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in Amgen by 6.0% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 635,172 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $204,659,000 after purchasing an additional 35,785 shares in the last quarter. Finally, ICICI Prudential Asset Management Co Ltd lifted its position in Amgen by 242.2% during the fourth quarter. ICICI Prudential Asset Management Co Ltd now owns 23,999 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $6,255,000 after purchasing an additional 16,985 shares during the period. 76.50% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP David M. Reese sold 25,225 shares of the business's stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 36,922 shares in the company, valued at $11,240,533.68. The trade was a 40.59 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Jonathan P. Graham sold 25,045 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $293.12, for a total value of $7,341,190.40. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 28,987 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,496,669.44. The trade was a 46.35 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 69,341 shares of company stock worth $20,644,335 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.69% of the company's stock.

Amgen Stock Performance

Shares of AMGN stock traded up $5.47 on Tuesday, hitting $288.56. 2,147,355 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,786,646. The firm's 50 day moving average is $301.29 and its two-hundred day moving average is $292.11. Amgen Inc. has a one year low of $253.30 and a one year high of $346.85. The firm has a market capitalization of $155.14 billion, a PE ratio of 38.22, a P/E/G ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 0.59. 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 (NASDAQ:AMGN - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The medical research company reported $5.31 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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%. Sell-side analysts expect that Amgen Inc. will post 20.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Amgen Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.30%. Amgen's payout ratio is 126.09%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have commented on the stock. Cantor Fitzgerald started coverage on shares of Amgen in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. They issued a "neutral" rating and a $305.00 target price on the stock. 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. Truist Financial cut their target price on Amgen from $333.00 to $298.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Wells Fargo & Company reiterated an "equal weight" rating on shares of Amgen in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Citigroup restated a "neutral" rating on shares of Amgen in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Two equities 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $310.57.

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.