Perennial Investment Advisors LLC Boosts Holdings in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Perennial Investment Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 1.6% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 2,733 shares of the medical research company’s stock after purchasing an additional 43 shares during the quarter. Perennial Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Amgen were worth $713,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AMGN. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Amgen in the fourth quarter valued at $1,541,991,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Amgen by 25.4% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 13,205,604 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $3,441,909,000 after purchasing an additional 2,672,975 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in Amgen in the 4th quarter valued at about $401,913,000. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its position in Amgen by 52.7% in the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 3,291,975 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $858,020,000 after buying an additional 1,135,884 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its stake in Amgen by 263.8% during the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,038,593 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $270,699,000 after buying an additional 753,147 shares during the period. 76.50% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP David M. Reese sold 25,225 shares of Amgen stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 36,922 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,240,533.68. The trade was a 40.59 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Jonathan P. Graham sold 25,045 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the executive vice president now owns 28,987 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,496,669.44. This represents a 46.35 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 69,341 shares of company stock valued at $20,644,335 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.69% of the company’s stock.

Amgen Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ AMGN opened at $294.39 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $304.18 and its 200-day simple moving average is $297.24. The firm has a market capitalization of $158.15 billion, a PE ratio of 38.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 0.53. Amgen Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $253.30 and a fifty-two week 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.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The medical research company reported $5.31 earnings per share 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 research analysts forecast that Amgen Inc. will post 20.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Amgen Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Investors of record on Friday, May 16th will be given a $2.38 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 16th. This represents a $9.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.23%. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 126.09%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on AMGN shares. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on shares of Amgen from $310.00 to $329.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Johnson Rice set a $294.00 target price on Amgen in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Bank of America upped their price target on Amgen from $275.00 to $294.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Citigroup reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of Amgen in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Amgen from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Saturday, March 29th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $314.04.

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.