Empower Advisory Group LLC Trims Stake in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Empower Advisory Group LLC decreased its stake in shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN - Free Report) by 27.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 303,466 shares of the medical research company's stock after selling 116,879 shares during the quarter. Empower Advisory Group LLC owned approximately 0.06% of Amgen worth $79,095,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. AMF Tjanstepension AB raised its stake in Amgen by 16.9% in the third quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 120,389 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $38,825,000 after buying an additional 17,387 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB increased its holdings in shares of Amgen by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 538,899 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $173,639,000 after acquiring an additional 5,751 shares during the last quarter. Inspire Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Amgen during the 3rd quarter worth about $204,000. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its stake in Amgen by 46.3% during the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 3,682 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $1,150,000 after purchasing an additional 1,166 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cyndeo Wealth Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Amgen by 8.4% in the third quarter. Cyndeo Wealth Partners LLC now owns 2,087 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $673,000 after purchasing an additional 162 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.50% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AMGN has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Leerink Partners cut their price objective on shares of Amgen from $349.00 to $302.00 in a report on Wednesday, November 27th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Amgen from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Jefferies Financial Group restated a "buy" rating and issued a $380.00 price objective on shares of Amgen in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Bank of America raised their price objective on Amgen from $256.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock an "underperform" rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Citigroup reduced their target price on Amgen from $310.00 to $295.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $314.09.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Nancy A. Grygiel sold 1,589 shares of Amgen 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 completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 7,210 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,195,228.70. This trade represents a 18.06 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Jonathan P. Graham sold 25,045 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 7th. The stock was 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 owns 28,987 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,496,669.44. This represents a 46.35 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 69,341 shares of company stock valued at $20,644,335 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.69% of the company's stock.

Amgen Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:AMGN traded up $5.08 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $303.01. The stock had a trading volume of 3,260,757 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,124,757. Amgen Inc. has a 1 year low of $253.30 and a 1 year high of $346.85. The company has a current ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.62. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $276.27 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $300.59. The company has a market capitalization of $162.78 billion, a PE ratio of 40.13, a P/E/G ratio of 2.55 and a beta of 0.56.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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, equities analysts predict that Amgen Inc. will post 20.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Amgen Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th will be issued a dividend of $2.38 per share. This represents a $9.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.14%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. This is a positive change from Amgen's previous quarterly dividend of $2.25. Amgen's dividend 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.