Tortoise Investment Management LLC Grows Stock Position in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Tortoise Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN – Get Rating) by 123.1% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 772 shares of the medical research company’s stock after buying an additional 426 shares during the quarter. Tortoise Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Amgen were worth $174,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Empirical Finance LLC raised its position in shares of Amgen by 17.7% during the 3rd quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 13,837 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $3,119,000 after buying an additional 2,077 shares during the period. Glenview Trust Co raised its position in shares of Amgen by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Glenview Trust Co now owns 9,219 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $2,078,000 after buying an additional 58 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC increased its holdings in Amgen by 31.1% in the 3rd quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 4,572 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,030,000 after purchasing an additional 1,085 shares during the last quarter. PYA Waltman Capital LLC increased its holdings in Amgen by 244.7% in the 3rd quarter. PYA Waltman Capital LLC now owns 2,416 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $545,000 after purchasing an additional 1,715 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Prudential Financial Inc. increased its holdings in Amgen by 18.6% in the 3rd quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. now owns 578,259 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $131,540,000 after purchasing an additional 90,579 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.53% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Amgen

In related news, SVP Nancy A. Grygiel sold 545 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $293.54, for a total value of $159,979.30. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 13,009 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,818,661.86. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.46% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently weighed in on AMGN shares. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on shares of Amgen from $235.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, November 4th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Amgen from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 17th. Truist Financial lifted their target price on shares of Amgen from $266.00 to $280.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 8th. Credit Suisse Group initiated coverage on shares of Amgen in a report on Thursday, November 17th. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $240.00 target price for the company. Finally, SVB Leerink boosted their price target on shares of Amgen from $256.00 to $282.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 22nd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $253.57.

Amgen Price Performance

Amgen stock opened at $259.70 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $138.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.85 and a beta of 0.67. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $273.21 and a 200-day simple moving average of $257.04. Amgen Inc. has a 12-month low of $214.39 and a 12-month high of $296.67. The company has a current ratio of 1.68, a quick ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 10.17.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN – Get Rating) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 3rd. The medical research company reported $4.70 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.43 by $0.27. The business had revenue of $6.65 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.56 billion. Amgen had a net margin of 25.96% and a return on equity of 287.23%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down .8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $4.67 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Amgen Inc. will post 17.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Amgen Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 8th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 15th will be given a dividend of $2.13 per share. This is a boost from Amgen’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.94. This represents a $8.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.28%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 14th. Amgen’s payout ratio is 62.23%.

Amgen Profile

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Amgen, Inc is a biotechnology company, which engages in the discovery, development, manufacture and marketing of human therapeutics. Its products include the following brands: Aranesp, Aimovig, KANJINTI, EVENITY, AMGEVITA, AVSOLA, BLINCYTO, MVASI, Corlanor, Enbrel, EPOGEN, IMLYGIC, Kyprolis, Neulasta, NEUPOGEN, Nplate, Parsabiv, Prolia, Repatha, Sensipar, Vectibix, Otezla, RIABNI, and XGEVA.