Founders Financial Alliance LLC Decreases Stock Holdings in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Founders Financial Alliance LLC lessened its holdings in shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN - Free Report) by 39.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,535 shares of the medical research company's stock after selling 1,010 shares during the quarter. Founders Financial Alliance LLC's holdings in Amgen were worth $400,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AMGN. Talbot Financial LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Amgen by 5.6% in the fourth quarter. Talbot Financial LLC now owns 42,791 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $11,153,000 after buying an additional 2,274 shares in the last quarter. Swiss National Bank lifted its holdings in shares of Amgen by 0.3% in the third quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 1,592,233 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $513,033,000 after buying an additional 5,500 shares in the last quarter. Asset Advisors Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Amgen by 9.0% in the third quarter. Asset Advisors Investment Management LLC now owns 35,934 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $11,578,000 after buying an additional 2,954 shares in the last quarter. 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, Ascent Wealth Partners LLC raised its stake in Amgen by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Ascent Wealth Partners LLC now owns 9,024 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $2,352,000 after purchasing an additional 64 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.50% of the company's stock.

Remove Ads

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on AMGN. Johnson Rice set a $294.00 target price on shares of Amgen in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Wolfe Research began coverage on shares of Amgen in a research note on Friday, November 15th. They issued a "peer perform" rating on the stock. Citigroup reaffirmed a "neutral" rating on shares of Amgen in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed an "equal weight" rating on shares of Amgen in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Bank of America raised their target price on shares of Amgen from $275.00 to $294.00 and gave the company an "underperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Amgen currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $314.04.

Amgen Trading Down 2.6 %

NASDAQ:AMGN traded down $8.47 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $318.89. The company had a trading volume of 3,079,086 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,556,568. The company has a market capitalization of $171.31 billion, a PE ratio of 42.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 0.53. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $288.66 and a 200 day moving average price of $299.43. Amgen Inc. has a 52 week low of $253.30 and a 52 week high of $346.85. 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 (NASDAQ:AMGN - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The medical research company reported $5.31 earnings per share 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, equities research analysts predict that Amgen Inc. will post 20.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Amgen Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 16th will be given a $2.38 dividend. This represents a $9.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.99%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 16th. Amgen's dividend payout ratio is presently 126.09%.

Insider Transactions at Amgen

In related news, EVP Jonathan P. Graham sold 25,045 shares of the business'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 transaction of $7,341,190.40. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP David M. Reese sold 25,225 shares of the business'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 value of $7,679,499.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 36,922 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $11,240,533.68. This trade represents a 40.59 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 69,341 shares of company stock valued at $20,644,335 in the last quarter. 0.69% of the stock is owned by insiders.

About Amgen

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.