WASHINGTON TRUST Co Reduces Stock Position in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

WASHINGTON TRUST Co reduced its position in shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN - Free Report) by 62.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 17,182 shares of the medical research company's stock after selling 29,046 shares during the quarter. WASHINGTON TRUST Co's holdings in Amgen were worth $4,478,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in AMGN. Talbot Financial LLC grew its position in shares of Amgen by 5.6% in the 4th 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 boosted its holdings in Amgen by 0.3% in the third 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 increased its position in Amgen by 9.0% during the 3rd quarter. Asset Advisors Investment Management LLC now owns 35,934 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $11,578,000 after purchasing an additional 2,954 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its position in Amgen by 6.0% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 635,172 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $204,659,000 after purchasing an additional 35,785 shares during the period. Finally, First Horizon Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in Amgen by 3.2% in the 3rd quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 60,769 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $19,581,000 after purchasing an additional 1,872 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.50% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on AMGN shares. StockNews.com cut shares of Amgen from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Piper Sandler upped their price target on Amgen from $310.00 to $329.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, February 10th. UBS Group reduced their target price on shares of Amgen from $335.00 to $326.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Redburn Partners dropped their price objective on shares of Amgen from $200.00 to $195.00 in a research note on Wednesday, November 27th. Finally, Truist Financial decreased their target price on shares of Amgen from $333.00 to $298.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $314.09.

Amgen Stock Performance

AMGN traded up $1.47 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $294.27. 2,806,841 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,145,679. The stock has a market capitalization of $158.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.98, a P/E/G ratio of 2.53 and a beta of 0.56. Amgen Inc. has a 52-week low of $253.30 and a 52-week high of $346.85. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.62. The company's fifty day moving average price is $274.73 and its 200-day moving average price is $300.81.

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, topping 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%. On average, sell-side 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. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be given a $2.38 dividend. This represents a $9.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.24%. This is an increase from Amgen's previous quarterly dividend of $2.25. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. Amgen's payout ratio is presently 126.09%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Jonathan P. Graham sold 25,045 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $293.12, for a total transaction of $7,341,190.40. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 28,987 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Murdo Gordon sold 8,771 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $294.79, for a total transaction of $2,585,603.09. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 44,186 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $13,025,590.94. This trade represents a 16.56 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 35,405 shares of company stock worth $10,410,596 in the last three months. 0.69% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.