EP Wealth Advisors LLC Has $8.21 Million Stake in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

EP Wealth Advisors LLC cut its stake in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 4.1% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 31,506 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 1,346 shares during the quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Amgen were worth $8,212,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AMGN. Capital World Investors raised its position in Amgen by 1,292.0% in the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 6,495,710 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,693,042,000 after buying an additional 6,029,058 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Amgen in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,541,991,000. Capital International Investors lifted its position in shares of Amgen by 40.1% in the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 12,212,065 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $3,182,843,000 after purchasing an additional 3,495,503 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Amgen by 25.4% during the fourth 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. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in Amgen in the fourth quarter valued at $401,913,000. Institutional investors own 76.50% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Amgen

In related news, EVP David M. Reese sold 8,711 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $293.22, for a total value of $2,554,239.42. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 62,147 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,222,743.34. This trade represents a 12.29 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Jonathan P. Graham sold 25,045 shares of Amgen stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $293.12, for a total value of $7,341,190.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 28,987 shares in the company, 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. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 67,752 shares of company stock valued at $20,160,532. Company insiders own 0.69% of the company’s stock.

Amgen Trading Up 2.0 %

Shares of AMGN stock opened at $275.84 on Thursday. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $297.78 and a 200 day simple moving average of $290.54. Amgen Inc. has a 1 year low of $253.30 and a 1 year high of $346.85. The company has a current ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.62. The stock has a market cap of $148.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 0.51.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The medical research company reported $4.90 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.18 by $0.72. Amgen had a return on equity of 176.32% and a net margin of 12.24%. The company had revenue of $8.15 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.05 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $3.96 EPS. Amgen’s quarterly revenue was up 9.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts predict that Amgen Inc. will post 20.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Amgen Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 16th will be given a $2.38 dividend. This represents a $9.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.45%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 16th. Amgen’s payout ratio is presently 86.86%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on AMGN shares. Citigroup restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Amgen in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Bank of America raised their price target on Amgen from $275.00 to $294.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Johnson Rice set a $294.00 price objective on Amgen in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Piper Sandler raised their target price 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. Finally, Truist Financial cut their price target on shares of Amgen from $333.00 to $298.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $310.23.

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.