Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) Shares Sold by WP Advisors LLC

WP Advisors LLC lessened its position in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 1.1% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 3,597 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 39 shares during the period. WP Advisors LLC’s holdings in Amgen were worth $1,121,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its stake in shares of Amgen by 23.5% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 27,468 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $7,159,000 after purchasing an additional 5,226 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC acquired a new position in Amgen during the fourth quarter worth about $17,996,000. Nicolet Bankshares Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Amgen by 6.7% during the fourth quarter. Nicolet Bankshares Inc. now owns 1,327 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $346,000 after buying an additional 83 shares during the period. Townsquare Capital LLC lifted its stake in shares of Amgen by 11.7% during the fourth quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 32,165 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $8,384,000 after buying an additional 3,371 shares during the period. Finally, Sagespring Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Amgen during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $3,781,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.50% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Amgen

In related news, SVP Rachna Khosla sold 1,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $289.68, for a total transaction of $434,520.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 8,162 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,364,368.16. This represents a 15.52% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 0.69% of the company’s stock.

Amgen Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:AMGN opened at $288.23 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $155.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.57, a P/E/G ratio of 2.49 and a beta of 0.49. Amgen Inc. has a 1-year low of $253.30 and a 1-year high of $339.17. The company has a current ratio of 1.31, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.24. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $293.23 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $292.81.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The medical research company reported $6.02 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.28 by $0.74. The company had revenue of $9.18 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.86 billion. Amgen had a return on equity of 174.71% and a net margin of 18.96%. Amgen’s revenue was up 9.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $4.97 EPS. Equities analysts predict that Amgen Inc. will post 20.62 earnings per share for the current year.

Amgen Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 12th. Investors of record on Friday, August 22nd will be paid a dividend of $2.38 per share. This represents a $9.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 22nd. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio is presently 77.84%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. UBS Group lowered their target price on shares of Amgen from $326.00 to $317.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, August 6th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Amgen from $305.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 6th. Guggenheim assumed coverage on shares of Amgen in a research report on Tuesday, May 20th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $288.00 target price on the stock. William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Amgen in a research report on Tuesday, June 24th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada reduced their target price on shares of Amgen from $324.00 to $320.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $303.76.

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.