Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) Shares Sold by Sigma Planning Corp

Sigma Planning Corp lessened its stake in shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 1.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 18,402 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 231 shares during the period. Sigma Planning Corp’s holdings in Amgen were worth $4,796,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new stake in shares of Amgen during the 3rd quarter valued at $25,000. Centricity Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Amgen in the fourth quarter valued at $25,000. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Amgen in the third quarter worth $29,000. Heck Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Amgen during the fourth quarter valued at $36,000. Finally, PrairieView Partners LLC raised its position in Amgen by 118.3% during the fourth quarter. PrairieView Partners LLC now owns 179 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $46,000 after buying an additional 97 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.50% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP David M. Reese sold 8,711 shares of Amgen stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $293.22, for a total transaction of $2,554,239.42. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 62,147 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,222,743.34. This trade represents a 12.29 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at 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 transaction of $483,802.83. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 7,210 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,195,228.70. This represents a 18.06 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 69,341 shares of company stock worth $20,644,335. Corporate insiders own 0.69% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AMGN has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $324.00 target price on shares of Amgen in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their target price on shares of Amgen from $305.00 to $285.00 in a research note on Wednesday, November 27th. Bank of America lifted their price objective on Amgen from $256.00 to $275.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Piper Sandler Companies reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $310.00 price target on shares of Amgen in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Finally, Wolfe Research began coverage on shares of Amgen in a research report on Friday, November 15th. They issued a “peer perform” rating for the company. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $314.09.

Amgen Stock Performance

NASDAQ AMGN opened at $303.01 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.62, a current ratio of 1.26 and a quick ratio of 0.95. The firm has a market capitalization of $162.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.13, a P/E/G ratio of 2.55 and a beta of 0.56. The company’s fifty day moving average is $276.27 and its two-hundred day moving average is $300.59. Amgen Inc. has a 52-week low of $253.30 and a 52-week high of $346.85.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last issued 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%. Equities research analysts forecast that Amgen Inc. will post 20.6 EPS for the current year.

Amgen Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be given a dividend of $2.38 per share. This is a positive change from Amgen’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.25. This represents a $9.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.14%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. Amgen’s payout ratio is 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.