Plancorp LLC Acquires 224 Shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Plancorp LLC raised its holdings in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 8.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,029 shares of the medical research company’s stock after acquiring an additional 224 shares during the period. Plancorp LLC’s holdings in Amgen were worth $790,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Runnymede Capital Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Amgen during the fourth quarter worth about $46,000. Mizuho Securities USA LLC grew its holdings in shares of Amgen by 46.2% during the fourth quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 50,946 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $13,279,000 after purchasing an additional 16,103 shares during the last quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP grew its holdings in shares of Amgen by 219.5% during the fourth quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 1,492 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $389,000 after purchasing an additional 1,025 shares during the last quarter. Virtu Financial LLC grew its holdings in shares of Amgen by 372.6% during the fourth quarter. Virtu Financial LLC now owns 23,294 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $6,071,000 after purchasing an additional 18,365 shares during the last quarter. Finally, ZEGA Investments LLC bought a new stake in shares of Amgen during the fourth quarter worth about $599,000. 76.50% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently weighed in on AMGN. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price target on Amgen from $305.00 to $285.00 in a report on Wednesday, November 27th. Leerink Partners cut their price objective on Amgen from $349.00 to $302.00 in a research note on Wednesday, November 27th. Piper Sandler Companies reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $310.00 price objective on shares of Amgen in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating on shares of Amgen in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $324.00 price objective on shares of Amgen in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $314.04.

Amgen Trading Up 0.3 %

NASDAQ AMGN opened at $316.04 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $169.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.86, a P/E/G ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 0.53. Amgen Inc. has a 52 week low of $253.30 and a 52 week high of $346.85. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $297.24 and a 200-day moving average price of $299.02. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.62.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The medical research company reported $5.31 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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, equities analysts expect that Amgen Inc. will post 20.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Amgen Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Investors of record on Friday, May 16th will be issued a dividend of $2.38 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 16th. This represents a $9.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.01%. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 126.09%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP David M. Reese sold 8,711 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $293.22, for a total transaction of $2,554,239.42. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 62,147 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,222,743.34. This represents a 12.29 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Nancy A. Grygiel sold 1,589 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $304.47, for a total value of $483,802.83. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 7,210 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,195,228.70. This trade represents a 18.06 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 69,341 shares of company stock worth $20,644,335. 0.69% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Amgen Company 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.