Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) Stake Boosted by Visionary Horizons LLC

Visionary Horizons LLC raised its holdings in shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 2.4% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 4,371 shares of the medical research company’s stock after purchasing an additional 102 shares during the quarter. Amgen comprises about 0.7% of Visionary Horizons LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 18th biggest holding. Visionary Horizons LLC’s holdings in Amgen were worth $1,139,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Benedict Financial Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Amgen by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Benedict Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 32,541 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $8,481,000 after purchasing an additional 263 shares during the last quarter. Birch Hill Investment Advisors LLC grew its stake in Amgen by 2.1% during the 4th quarter. Birch Hill Investment Advisors LLC now owns 2,045 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $533,000 after buying an additional 42 shares during the last quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC increased its position in Amgen by 182.2% in the fourth quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC now owns 20,544 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $5,327,000 after buying an additional 13,263 shares during the period. Thompson Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in Amgen by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. Thompson Investment Management Inc. now owns 19,234 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $5,013,000 after buying an additional 381 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Entropy Technologies LP acquired a new position in shares of Amgen during the fourth quarter valued at $6,306,000. 76.50% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently weighed in on AMGN. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their price objective on shares of Amgen from $305.00 to $285.00 in a research report on Wednesday, November 27th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $405.00 price target on shares of Amgen in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Piper Sandler Companies reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $310.00 price objective on shares of Amgen in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. StockNews.com downgraded Amgen from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, TD Cowen raised their price target on Amgen from $381.00 to $383.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $313.23.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Nancy A. Grygiel sold 1,589 shares of the 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 completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 7,210 shares in the company, valued at $2,195,228.70. This represents a 18.06 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Company insiders own 0.69% of the company’s stock.

Amgen Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ AMGN opened at $293.54 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $272.26 and its 200 day simple moving average is $303.21. The stock has a market capitalization of $157.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.88, a PEG ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.56. The company has a quick ratio of 0.96, a current ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.62. Amgen Inc. has a 52-week low of $253.30 and a 52-week high of $346.85.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last issued its quarterly 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 return on equity of 176.32% and a net margin of 12.24%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Amgen Inc. will post 20.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Amgen Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th will be given a $2.38 dividend. This represents a $9.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.24%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. This is an increase from Amgen’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.25. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio is 119.21%.

Amgen 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.