Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) Shares Purchased by Townsquare Capital LLC

Townsquare Capital LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN - Free Report) by 11.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 32,165 shares of the medical research company's stock after purchasing an additional 3,371 shares during the quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC's holdings in Amgen were worth $8,384,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in AMGN. Centricity Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Amgen during the fourth quarter worth $25,000. Ritter Daniher Financial Advisory LLC DE increased its holdings in Amgen by 66.2% during the 4th quarter. Ritter Daniher Financial Advisory LLC DE now owns 128 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 51 shares during the period. Synergy Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Amgen in the 4th quarter valued at about $34,000. Atala Financial Inc acquired a new position in shares of Amgen during the fourth quarter worth about $34,000. Finally, Heck Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Amgen during the fourth quarter worth approximately $36,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.50% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In other Amgen news, EVP David M. Reese sold 25,225 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 sale, the executive vice president now owns 36,922 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,240,533.68. This represents a 40.59 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Nancy A. Grygiel sold 1,589 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $304.47, for a total value of $483,802.83. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 69,341 shares of company stock worth $20,644,335 over the last 90 days. 0.69% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on AMGN shares. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Amgen from $328.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. UBS Group upped their price target on Amgen from $315.00 to $319.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday. Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of Amgen from $275.00 to $294.00 and gave the stock an "underperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Piper Sandler Companies reissued an "overweight" rating and issued a $310.00 price target on shares of Amgen in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Finally, StockNews.com cut Amgen from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Amgen currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $314.91.

Amgen Price Performance

Amgen stock traded down $5.35 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $277.29. The company's stock had a trading volume of 4,371,822 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,793,267. The firm has a market capitalization of $149.09 billion, a PE ratio of 36.73, a P/E/G ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 0.59. Amgen Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $253.30 and a fifty-two week high of $346.85. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $303.43 and its 200 day simple moving average is $294.51. 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 data on Tuesday, February 4th. The medical research company reported $5.31 EPS 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%. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Amgen Inc. will post 20.62 earnings per share for the current year.

Amgen Announces Dividend

The company 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 $2.38 dividend. This represents a $9.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.43%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 16th. Amgen's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.