Citizens National Bank Trust Department Lowers Stake in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Citizens National Bank Trust Department reduced its position in shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 4.2% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 9,344 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 410 shares during the period. Citizens National Bank Trust Department’s holdings in Amgen were worth $2,435,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in AMGN. Talbot Financial LLC increased its holdings 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 valued at $11,153,000 after acquiring an additional 2,274 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank boosted its position in Amgen by 0.3% during 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 purchasing an additional 5,500 shares in the last quarter. Asset Advisors Investment Management LLC grew its stake in Amgen by 9.0% in the third 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 last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in Amgen by 6.0% in 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 in the last quarter. Finally, First Horizon Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of 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 buying an additional 1,872 shares during the last quarter. 76.50% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently commented on AMGN shares. UBS Group reduced their price objective on shares of Amgen from $335.00 to $326.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Leerink Partners decreased their price objective on Amgen from $349.00 to $302.00 in a report on Wednesday, November 27th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their target price on Amgen from $305.00 to $285.00 in a research note on Wednesday, November 27th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on Amgen from $335.00 to $280.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Piper Sandler Companies restated an “overweight” rating and set a $310.00 price target on shares of Amgen in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $314.09.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Amgen news, EVP Murdo Gordon sold 8,771 shares of Amgen 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 in the company, valued at $13,025,590.94. This trade represents a 16.56 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Nancy A. Grygiel sold 1,589 shares of the business’s 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 completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 7,210 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,195,228.70. The trade was a 18.06 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 35,405 shares of company stock valued at $10,410,596 over the last quarter. 0.69% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Amgen Stock Up 0.5 %

Shares of AMGN opened at $294.27 on Thursday. 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 stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $275.15 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $300.77. The company has a market capitalization of $158.18 billion, a PE ratio of 38.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.53 and a beta of 0.56.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last issued its earnings results 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%. As a group, equities analysts forecast 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. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th will be given a $2.38 dividend. This represents a $9.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.24%. This is a positive change from Amgen’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.25. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio is presently 126.09%.

Amgen 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.