First National Corp MA ADV Decreases Stake in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

First National Corp MA ADV cut its stake in shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 4.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 2,198 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 96 shares during the quarter. First National Corp MA ADV’s holdings in Amgen were worth $573,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Capital Performance Advisors LLP purchased a new stake in shares of Amgen in the 3rd quarter valued at $25,000. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC purchased a new stake in Amgen in the third quarter valued at $29,000. Heck Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Amgen during the 4th quarter worth about $36,000. Wingate Wealth Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Amgen during the 4th quarter valued at about $52,000. Finally, Livelsberger Financial Advisory acquired a new position in shares of Amgen in the 3rd quarter valued at about $56,000. 76.50% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently commented on the company. Bank of America raised their target price on Amgen from $256.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a report on Thursday. Citigroup dropped their price objective on shares of Amgen from $310.00 to $295.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on shares of Amgen in a research note on Friday, November 15th. They issued a “peer perform” rating for the company. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on shares of Amgen from $335.00 to $280.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Redburn Partners decreased their price objective on shares of Amgen from $200.00 to $195.00 in a research report on Wednesday, November 27th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $314.09.

Amgen Trading Down 1.4 %

Shares of AMGN stock opened at $293.54 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.62. Amgen Inc. has a twelve month low of $253.30 and a twelve month high of $346.85. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $272.26 and its 200-day moving average price is $303.00. The stock has a market cap of $157.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.88, a PEG ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.56.

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, beating the consensus estimate of $5.04 by $0.27. Amgen had a net margin of 12.24% and a return on equity of 176.32%. As a group, equities analysts predict that Amgen Inc. will post 20.59 earnings per share for the current year.

Amgen Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be issued a dividend of $2.38 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. 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 dividend yield of 3.24%. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio is currently 126.09%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Nancy A. Grygiel sold 1,589 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $304.47, for a total value of $483,802.83. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 7,210 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,195,228.70. The trade was a 18.06 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.69% of the company’s stock.

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.