Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) Shares Bought by MONECO Advisors LLC

MONECO Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 44.6% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 3,711 shares of the medical research company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,145 shares during the period. MONECO Advisors LLC’s holdings in Amgen were worth $967,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Talbot Financial LLC boosted its position in Amgen by 5.6% during the fourth quarter. Talbot Financial LLC now owns 42,791 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $11,153,000 after purchasing an additional 2,274 shares in the last quarter. Swiss National Bank raised its stake in shares of Amgen by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 1,592,233 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $513,033,000 after buying an additional 5,500 shares during the last quarter. Asset Advisors Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Amgen by 9.0% in the 3rd quarter. Asset Advisors Investment Management LLC now owns 35,934 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $11,578,000 after buying an additional 2,954 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake 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 valued at $204,659,000 after acquiring an additional 35,785 shares during the last quarter. Finally, First Horizon Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in Amgen by 3.2% during the 3rd quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 60,769 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $19,581,000 after acquiring an additional 1,872 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.50% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AMGN has been the topic of several recent research reports. Truist Financial reduced their price target on shares of Amgen from $333.00 to $298.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Piper Sandler upped their target price on Amgen from $310.00 to $329.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on Amgen in a report on Friday, November 15th. They set a “peer perform” rating on the stock. Piper Sandler Companies reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $310.00 price target on shares of Amgen in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $380.00 price objective on shares of Amgen in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Amgen currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $314.09.

Amgen Trading Up 1.7 %

Shares of AMGN opened at $303.01 on Monday. Amgen Inc. has a 12 month low of $253.30 and a 12 month high of $346.85. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $276.27 and its two-hundred day moving average is $300.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.62, a current ratio of 1.26 and a quick ratio of 0.95. The stock has a market cap of $162.78 billion, a PE ratio of 40.13, a P/E/G ratio of 2.58 and a beta of 0.56.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last released its quarterly earnings results 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 return on equity of 176.32% and a net margin of 12.24%. Equities analysts forecast that Amgen Inc. will post 20.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Amgen Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be issued a $2.38 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $9.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.14%. This is a positive change from Amgen’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.25. Amgen’s payout ratio is currently 126.09%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Amgen

In other news, SVP Nancy A. Grygiel sold 1,589 shares of the firm’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 transaction of $483,802.83. Following the completion of the sale, 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Murdo Gordon sold 8,771 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the executive vice president now 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 69,341 shares of company stock valued at $20,644,335 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.69% of the company’s stock.

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.