Verity Asset Management Inc. Sells 3,212 Shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Verity Asset Management Inc. lowered its position in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN - Free Report) by 45.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 3,810 shares of the medical research company's stock after selling 3,212 shares during the quarter. Verity Asset Management Inc.'s holdings in Amgen were worth $993,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Talbot Financial LLC increased its position in Amgen by 5.6% during 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 during the last quarter. Swiss National Bank raised its stake in shares of Amgen by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 1,592,233 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $513,033,000 after acquiring an additional 5,500 shares in the last quarter. Asset Advisors Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in Amgen by 9.0% in the 3rd quarter. Asset Advisors Investment Management LLC now owns 35,934 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $11,578,000 after purchasing an additional 2,954 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in Amgen by 6.0% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 635,172 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $204,659,000 after purchasing an additional 35,785 shares during the period. Finally, First Horizon Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in Amgen by 3.2% during the third quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 60,769 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $19,581,000 after purchasing an additional 1,872 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.50% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently issued reports on AMGN. TD Cowen boosted their price target on Amgen from $381.00 to $383.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Piper Sandler reduced their target price on Amgen from $344.00 to $310.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Citigroup dropped their price objective on shares of Amgen from $310.00 to $295.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. UBS Group lowered their target price on shares of Amgen from $335.00 to $326.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Redburn Partners lowered their price objective on Amgen from $200.00 to $195.00 in a research note on Wednesday, November 27th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $314.00.

Amgen Price Performance

NASDAQ:AMGN traded up $16.94 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $305.96. 3,230,466 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,134,435. The company has a market capitalization of $164.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.18, a P/E/G ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 0.56. Amgen Inc. has a 1-year low of $253.30 and a 1-year high of $346.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.55, a current ratio of 1.32 and a quick ratio of 0.96. The business has a 50 day moving average of $271.14 and a 200 day moving average of $303.52.

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 return on equity of 168.35% and a net margin of 13.00%. Research analysts forecast that Amgen Inc. will post 19.56 EPS for the current year.

Amgen Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th will be paid a $2.38 dividend. This is a boost from Amgen's previous quarterly dividend of $2.25. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $9.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.11%. Amgen's payout ratio is currently 115.24%.

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.