Ameriprise Financial Inc. Boosts Holdings in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its stake in shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 4.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 2,025,866 shares of the medical research company’s stock after buying an additional 84,128 shares during the quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. owned about 0.38% of Amgen worth $527,088,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of AMGN. Centricity Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Amgen during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Ritter Daniher Financial Advisory LLC DE raised its stake in Amgen by 66.2% during the fourth quarter. Ritter Daniher Financial Advisory LLC DE now owns 128 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 51 shares in the last quarter. Synergy Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Amgen during the fourth quarter valued at $34,000. Atala Financial Inc purchased a new position in shares of Amgen in the 4th quarter worth $34,000. Finally, Heck Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Amgen in the 4th quarter worth about $36,000. Institutional investors own 76.50% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently commented on the stock. Truist Financial lowered their price target on shares of Amgen from $333.00 to $298.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. 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. Cantor Fitzgerald initiated coverage on Amgen in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. They set a “neutral” rating and a $305.00 target price on the stock. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating on shares of Amgen in a research note on Friday. Finally, Johnson Rice set a $294.00 price objective on shares of Amgen in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $308.18.

Amgen Stock Performance

AMGN stock opened at $281.22 on Monday. Amgen Inc. has a 1-year low of $253.30 and a 1-year high of $346.85. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $299.66 and a 200 day moving average price of $291.07. The company has a market capitalization of $151.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.25, a PEG ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 0.51. 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 posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The medical research company reported $4.90 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.18 by $0.72. Amgen had a net margin of 12.24% and a return on equity of 176.32%. The business had revenue of $8.15 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.05 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $3.96 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 9.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Amgen Inc. will post 20.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Amgen Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 16th will be given a dividend of $2.38 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 16th. This represents a $9.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.39%. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 126.09%.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Murdo Gordon sold 8,771 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $294.79, for a total value of $2,585,603.09. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 44,186 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,025,590.94. This trade represents a 16.56 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Nancy A. Grygiel sold 1,589 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,195,228.70. This trade represents a 18.06 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 69,341 shares of company stock worth $20,644,335. 0.69% of the stock is currently owned by company 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.