Hickory Point Bank & Trust Takes $277,000 Position in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Hickory Point Bank & Trust bought a new stake in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 1,064 shares of the medical research company’s stock, valued at approximately $277,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Capital Performance Advisors LLP bought a new position in Amgen in the third quarter worth about $25,000. Centricity Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Amgen in the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC purchased a new stake in Amgen in the 3rd quarter valued at $29,000. Heck Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Amgen during the 4th quarter worth $36,000. Finally, PrairieView Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Amgen by 118.3% during the 4th quarter. PrairieView Partners LLC now owns 179 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $46,000 after acquiring an additional 97 shares during the period. 76.50% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Amgen Stock Up 0.7 %

Shares of AMGN opened at $308.06 on Friday. 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 50 day moving average price of $280.87 and a 200 day moving average price of $299.99. The stock has a market capitalization of $165.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.80, a PEG ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 0.56. Amgen Inc. has a one year low of $253.30 and a one year high of $346.85.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last issued its 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 176.32% and a net margin of 12.24%. Equities research analysts forecast that Amgen Inc. will post 20.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Amgen Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. This is a positive change from Amgen’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.25. This represents a $9.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.09%. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio is currently 126.09%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently issued reports on AMGN. 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. StockNews.com lowered Amgen from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $324.00 target price on shares of Amgen in a report on Friday, January 24th. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $380.00 price target on shares of Amgen in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Finally, Redburn Partners lowered their price target on Amgen from $200.00 to $195.00 in a research report on Wednesday, November 27th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Amgen currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $314.09.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Nancy A. Grygiel sold 1,589 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $304.47, for a total transaction of $483,802.83. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 7,210 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,195,228.70. This represents a 18.06 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP David M. Reese sold 25,225 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the executive vice president now directly 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. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 69,341 shares of company stock worth $20,644,335. 0.69% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

About Amgen

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.