Middleton & Co. Inc. MA Buys 85 Shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Middleton & Co. Inc. MA lifted its stake in shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 6.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,361 shares of the medical research company’s stock after acquiring an additional 85 shares during the quarter. Middleton & Co. Inc. MA’s holdings in Amgen were worth $355,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. AMF Tjanstepension AB boosted its stake in Amgen by 16.9% during the 3rd quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 120,389 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $38,825,000 after purchasing an additional 17,387 shares during the period. Swedbank AB boosted its stake in Amgen by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 538,899 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $173,639,000 after purchasing an additional 5,751 shares during the period. Goldstone Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in Amgen during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $253,000. Baron Silver Stevens Financial Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Amgen by 11.5% during the 3rd quarter. Baron Silver Stevens Financial Advisors LLC now owns 755 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $243,000 after purchasing an additional 78 shares during the period. Finally, Principal Securities Inc. boosted its stake in Amgen by 8.9% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Securities Inc. now owns 13,501 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $4,350,000 after purchasing an additional 1,104 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 76.50% of the company’s stock.

Amgen Stock Up 0.7 %

NASDAQ:AMGN opened at $308.06 on Friday. Amgen Inc. has a 12-month low of $253.30 and a 12-month high of $346.85. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.62. The firm has a market capitalization of $165.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.80, a P/E/G ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 0.56. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $280.87 and its 200-day simple moving average is $300.16.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The medical research company reported $5.31 earnings per share 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%. Equities research analysts expect that Amgen Inc. will post 20.62 earnings per share for the current year.

Amgen Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be issued a dividend of $2.38 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. This is a positive change from Amgen’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.25. This represents a $9.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.09%. Amgen’s payout ratio is currently 126.09%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have commented on AMGN. UBS Group reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Amgen in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. StockNews.com cut Amgen from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Amgen in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $324.00 price target on shares of Amgen in a report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Leerink Partners cut their price target on Amgen from $349.00 to $302.00 in a report on Wednesday, November 27th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $314.09.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Amgen news, EVP Murdo Gordon sold 8,771 shares of Amgen stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was 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 owns 44,186 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,025,590.94. This trade represents a 16.56 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Nancy A. Grygiel sold 1,589 shares of Amgen stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $304.47, for a total value of $483,802.83. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 7,210 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,195,228.70. This represents a 18.06 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 69,341 shares of company stock worth $20,644,335. Corporate insiders own 0.69% of the company’s stock.

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.