Slagle Financial LLC Raises Stock Holdings in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Slagle Financial LLC lifted its stake in shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 4.9% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 7,852 shares of the medical research company’s stock after acquiring an additional 366 shares during the quarter. Slagle Financial LLC’s holdings in Amgen were worth $2,446,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Amgen by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 52,721,795 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $13,741,409,000 after buying an additional 339,522 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Amgen by 2.9% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 12,475,032 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $3,245,881,000 after purchasing an additional 352,143 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors boosted its stake in Amgen by 40.1% during 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 buying an additional 3,495,503 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors lifted its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 6,029,058 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in Amgen by 15.8% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 6,431,029 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,676,183,000 after acquiring an additional 875,254 shares in the last quarter. 76.50% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the company. Royal Bank Of Canada decreased their target price on Amgen from $324.00 to $320.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. UBS Group reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $315.00 price target (down previously from $319.00) on shares of Amgen in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and set a $328.00 price objective on shares of Amgen in a research note on Friday, June 27th. Mizuho lifted their price target on Amgen from $235.00 to $280.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 7th. Finally, Erste Group Bank cut Amgen from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $307.82.

Amgen Price Performance

AMGN opened at $297.00 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $159.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.10, a P/E/G ratio of 2.65 and a beta of 0.49. The company has a 50 day moving average of $282.83 and a two-hundred day moving average of $287.44. The company has a quick ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 1.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.70. Amgen Inc. has a 52-week low of $253.30 and a 52-week high of $346.85.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The medical research company reported $4.90 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.18 by $0.72. Amgen had a net margin of 17.39% and a return on equity of 176.11%. The business had revenue of $8.15 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.05 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $3.96 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 9.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that Amgen Inc. will post 20.62 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Amgen

In other news, SVP Rachna Khosla sold 1,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $289.68, for a total value of $434,520.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 8,162 shares in the company, valued at $2,364,368.16. This represents a 15.52% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.69% of the company’s stock.

Amgen 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.