Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund Buys 167 Shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund raised its stake in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 0.4% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 46,088 shares of the medical research company’s stock after acquiring an additional 167 shares during the period. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund’s holdings in Amgen were worth $12,012,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Capital Performance Advisors LLP bought a new stake in Amgen during the 3rd quarter valued at $25,000. Centricity Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Amgen during the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Amgen during the third quarter worth about $29,000. Heck Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Amgen during the fourth quarter worth about $36,000. Finally, PrairieView Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Amgen by 118.3% in the fourth quarter. PrairieView Partners LLC now owns 179 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $46,000 after purchasing an additional 97 shares during 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 subject of several research analyst reports. Wolfe Research began coverage on Amgen in a report on Friday, November 15th. They issued a “peer perform” rating for the company. Leerink Partners dropped their price target on Amgen from $349.00 to $302.00 in a research note on Wednesday, November 27th. William Blair reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Amgen in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Truist Financial decreased their price objective 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. Finally, UBS Group reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Amgen in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $314.09.

Insider Buying and Selling at Amgen

In other news, EVP David M. Reese sold 25,225 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $304.44, for a total value of $7,679,499.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 36,922 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,240,533.68. This trade represents a 40.59 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 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 transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 7,210 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,195,228.70. The trade was a 18.06 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 69,341 shares of company stock valued at $20,644,335. Insiders own 0.69% of the company’s stock.

Amgen Stock Performance

Shares of AMGN opened at $315.63 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $169.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.81, a PEG ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 0.56. 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 Inc. has a one year low of $253.30 and a one year high of $346.85. The business has a fifty day moving average of $278.13 and a 200 day moving average of $300.16.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The medical research company reported $5.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Amgen Inc. will post 20.62 EPS 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. This is a boost from Amgen’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.25. This represents a $9.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.02%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio is currently 126.09%.

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.