Kesler Norman & Wride LLC Acquires 954 Shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Kesler Norman & Wride LLC lifted its position in shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN - Free Report) by 4.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 23,366 shares of the medical research company's stock after acquiring an additional 954 shares during the quarter. Amgen makes up approximately 1.3% of Kesler Norman & Wride LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 23rd biggest position. Kesler Norman & Wride LLC's holdings in Amgen were worth $6,090,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Potomac Fund Management Inc. ADV bought a new position in Amgen during the 4th quarter worth $483,000. Trexquant Investment LP boosted its holdings in Amgen by 5,813.3% in the fourth quarter. Trexquant Investment LP now owns 134,705 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $35,110,000 after acquiring an additional 132,427 shares during the last quarter. May Hill Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Amgen during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $327,000. Lokken Investment Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Amgen by 2.1% in the 4th quarter. Lokken Investment Group LLC now owns 4,121 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $1,074,000 after purchasing an additional 85 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Amgen by 2.9% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 12,475,032 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $3,245,881,000 after purchasing an additional 352,143 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.50% of the company's stock.

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Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Truist Financial dropped their price target on Amgen from $333.00 to $298.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $324.00 target price on shares of Amgen in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Citigroup reiterated a "neutral" rating on shares of Amgen in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. StockNews.com upgraded Amgen from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Saturday, March 29th. Finally, Johnson Rice set a $294.00 price objective on Amgen in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $314.04.

Amgen Price Performance

NASDAQ AMGN traded down $15.46 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $294.39. The company had a trading volume of 5,252,789 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,726,356. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $304.18 and a 200 day simple moving average of $297.24. Amgen Inc. has a 52 week low of $253.30 and a 52 week high of $346.85. The firm has a market capitalization of $158.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.99, a PEG ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 0.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.62, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 1.26.

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, topping 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%. Equities research analysts expect that Amgen Inc. will post 20.62 earnings per share for the current year.

Amgen Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 16th will be issued a $2.38 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 16th. This represents a $9.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.23%. Amgen's payout ratio is 126.09%.

Insider Activity

In other Amgen news, EVP Murdo Gordon sold 8,771 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 owns 44,186 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,025,590.94. The trade was a 16.56 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Nancy A. Grygiel sold 1,589 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $304.47, for a total value of $483,802.83. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 7,210 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,195,228.70. This trade represents a 18.06 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 69,341 shares of company stock valued at $20,644,335. Corporate insiders own 0.69% of the company's stock.

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.