Oarsman Capital Inc. Trims Holdings in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Oarsman Capital Inc. reduced its holdings in shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 7.2% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 2,609 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 202 shares during the period. Oarsman Capital Inc.’s holdings in Amgen were worth $680,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Blossom Wealth Management increased its holdings in Amgen by 3.5% in the 4th quarter. Blossom Wealth Management now owns 1,090 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $284,000 after buying an additional 37 shares during the period. Zullo Investment Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Amgen by 2.8% in the 4th quarter. Zullo Investment Group Inc. now owns 1,364 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $356,000 after acquiring an additional 37 shares during the last quarter. Trillium Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Amgen by 4.2% during the fourth quarter. Trillium Asset Management LLC now owns 911 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $237,000 after purchasing an additional 37 shares during the last quarter. Prestige Wealth Management Group LLC lifted its position in Amgen by 2.8% during the third quarter. Prestige Wealth Management Group LLC now owns 1,387 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $447,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares during the period. Finally, Evermay Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in Amgen by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Evermay Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,650 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $691,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.50% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on AMGN shares. Piper Sandler Companies reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $310.00 price objective on shares of Amgen in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $324.00 price target on shares of Amgen in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Citigroup restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Amgen in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating on shares of Amgen in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, UBS Group reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Amgen in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $314.04.

Amgen Stock Performance

NASDAQ:AMGN opened at $294.39 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $158.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.99, a P/E/G ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 0.53. 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 $304.18 and its 200-day moving average price is $297.49. The company has a current ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.62.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The medical research company reported $5.31 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.04 by $0.27. Amgen had a net margin of 12.24% and a return on equity of 176.32%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Amgen Inc. will post 20.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Amgen Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 16th will be issued a $2.38 dividend. This represents a $9.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.23%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 16th. Amgen’s payout ratio is currently 126.09%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Nancy A. Grygiel sold 1,589 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $304.47, for a total value of $483,802.83. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 7,210 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,195,228.70. This represents a 18.06 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Murdo Gordon sold 8,771 shares of Amgen stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $294.79, for a total transaction of $2,585,603.09. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 44,186 shares in the company, valued at $13,025,590.94. This trade represents a 16.56 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 69,341 shares of company stock valued at $20,644,335 in the last three months. 0.69% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.