ING Groep NV Sells 75,504 Shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

ING Groep NV decreased its position in shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN - Free Report) by 25.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 218,917 shares of the medical research company's stock after selling 75,504 shares during the period. ING Groep NV's holdings in Amgen were worth $57,059,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in AMGN. Morningstar Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Amgen by 9.6% during the 4th quarter. Morningstar Investment Management LLC now owns 2,729 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $711,000 after buying an additional 239 shares in the last quarter. Hussman Strategic Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in Amgen by 40.0% during the fourth quarter. Hussman Strategic Advisors Inc. now owns 14,700 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $3,831,000 after acquiring an additional 4,200 shares during the period. Zullo Investment Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Amgen by 2.8% in the fourth quarter. Zullo Investment Group Inc. now owns 1,364 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $356,000 after acquiring an additional 37 shares in the last quarter. Advyzon Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Amgen in the fourth quarter worth about $232,000. Finally, WealthBridge Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Amgen by 4.7% during the fourth quarter. WealthBridge Capital Management LLC now owns 1,073 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $280,000 after purchasing an additional 48 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.50% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Amgen news, SVP Nancy A. Grygiel sold 1,589 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 5th. The shares were 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP David M. Reese sold 25,225 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $304.44, for a total transaction of $7,679,499.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 36,922 shares in the company, 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 have sold a total of 69,341 shares of company stock worth $20,644,335 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.69% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently commented on AMGN shares. Truist Financial lowered their price target on Amgen from $333.00 to $298.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $380.00 target price on shares of Amgen in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $324.00 target price on shares of Amgen in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on shares of Amgen from $310.00 to $329.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, February 10th. Finally, Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of Amgen from $256.00 to $275.00 and gave the company an "underperform" rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. 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 issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Amgen presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $314.09.

Amgen Trading Up 1.7 %

Shares of Amgen stock traded up $5.08 during 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. The stock has a market cap of $162.78 billion, a PE ratio of 40.13, a PEG ratio of 2.55 and a beta of 0.56. Amgen Inc. has a 12 month low of $253.30 and a 12 month high of $346.85. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $275.62 and its 200-day simple moving average is $300.75. 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 announced its earnings results 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%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Amgen Inc. will post 20.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Amgen Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be given a $2.38 dividend. This represents a $9.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.14%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. This is an increase from Amgen's previous quarterly dividend of $2.25. Amgen's dividend payout ratio is 126.09%.

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.