Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) Shares Purchased by Venturi Wealth Management LLC

Venturi Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN - Free Report) by 85.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 11,156 shares of the medical research company's stock after acquiring an additional 5,129 shares during the period. Venturi Wealth Management LLC's holdings in Amgen were worth $2,908,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. UBS Group cut their target price on shares of Amgen from $335.00 to $326.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $380.00 target price on shares of Amgen in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $324.00 price target on shares of Amgen in a research report on Friday, January 24th. StockNews.com downgraded Amgen from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, William Blair reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of Amgen in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $314.09.

Amgen Trading Up 1.7 %

Amgen stock traded up $5.08 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $303.01. The stock had a trading volume of 3,260,757 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,124,757. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $276.27 and its 200 day simple moving average is $300.59. Amgen Inc. has a twelve month low of $253.30 and a twelve month high of $346.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.62, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 1.26. The stock has a market capitalization of $162.78 billion, a PE ratio of 40.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.55 and a beta of 0.56.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 return on equity of 176.32% and a net margin of 12.24%. Analysts expect that Amgen Inc. will post 20.6 EPS for the current 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 paid a dividend of $2.38 per share. This is an increase from Amgen's previous quarterly dividend of $2.25. This represents a $9.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.14%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. Amgen's payout ratio is currently 126.09%.

Insider Transactions at Amgen

In other Amgen news, EVP Jonathan P. Graham sold 25,045 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the executive vice president now owns 28,987 shares in the company, valued at $8,496,669.44. The trade was a 46.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP David M. Reese sold 25,225 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 69,341 shares of company stock valued at $20,644,335 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.69% of the company's stock.

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.