U S Wealth Group LLC. Makes New Investment in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

U S Wealth Group LLC. acquired a new stake in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm acquired 7,739 shares of the medical research company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,017,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AMGN. Talbot Financial LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Amgen by 5.6% during 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 in the last quarter. Asset Advisors Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 2,954 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Amgen by 6.0% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 635,172 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $204,659,000 after acquiring an additional 35,785 shares during the period. Ascent Wealth Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Amgen by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Ascent Wealth Partners LLC now owns 9,024 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $2,352,000 after purchasing an additional 64 shares during the period. Finally, ICICI Prudential Asset Management Co Ltd boosted its stake in shares of Amgen by 242.2% in the fourth quarter. ICICI Prudential Asset Management Co Ltd now owns 23,999 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $6,255,000 after purchasing an additional 16,985 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.50% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Bank of America raised their price objective on Amgen from $275.00 to $294.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Wells Fargo & Company reissued an “equal weight” rating on shares of Amgen in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $324.00 price target on shares of Amgen in a research note on Friday, January 24th. StockNews.com upgraded Amgen from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, March 29th. Finally, Piper Sandler boosted their price target on Amgen from $310.00 to $329.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, February 10th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $314.04.

Insider Activity

In other Amgen news, EVP David M. Reese sold 25,225 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $304.44, for a total transaction of $7,679,499.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 36,922 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,240,533.68. This trade represents a 40.59 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, SVP Nancy A. Grygiel sold 1,589 shares of the business’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 transaction, the senior vice president now owns 7,210 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,195,228.70. This trade represents a 18.06 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 69,341 shares of company stock worth $20,644,335 in the last quarter. 0.69% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Amgen Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:AMGN opened at $294.39 on Monday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $304.18 and a 200 day simple moving average of $296.99. The company has a market cap of $158.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.99, a PEG ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 0.53. Amgen Inc. has a one year low of $253.30 and a one year high of $346.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.62, a current ratio of 1.26 and a quick ratio of 0.95.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) 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%. Research analysts predict that Amgen Inc. will post 20.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Amgen Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 16th will be issued a dividend of $2.38 per share. This represents a $9.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.23%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 16th. Amgen’s payout ratio is 126.09%.

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.