Bellevue Group AG Sells 12,066 Shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Bellevue Group AG cut its holdings in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 35.3% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 22,139 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 12,066 shares during the quarter. Bellevue Group AG’s holdings in Amgen were worth $6,295,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Kestra Advisory Services LLC grew its holdings in shares of Amgen by 25.6% in the first quarter. Kestra Advisory Services LLC now owns 80,582 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $22,911,000 after purchasing an additional 16,407 shares in the last quarter. Steel Grove Capital Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Amgen by 30.5% in the first quarter. Steel Grove Capital Advisors LLC now owns 1,283 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $365,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares in the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in Amgen by 4.4% in the first quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 31,841 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $9,051,000 after purchasing an additional 1,353 shares in the last quarter. LRI Investments LLC acquired a new position in shares of Amgen during the first quarter valued at about $738,000. Finally, Gamco Investors INC. ET AL boosted its position in Amgen by 5.3% in the first quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL now owns 5,431 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,544,000 after buying an additional 271 shares during the last quarter. 76.50% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Amgen

In other Amgen news, SVP Nancy A. Grygiel sold 2,117 shares of Amgen stock in a transaction on Friday, May 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $313.09, for a total transaction of $662,811.53. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 9,883 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,094,268.47. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.69% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Amgen Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ AMGN traded up $0.55 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $334.85. The company had a trading volume of 1,515,471 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,821,447. The stock has a market cap of $179.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 47.84, a PEG ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 0.58. Amgen Inc. has a 12 month low of $228.21 and a 12 month high of $346.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 11.96, a current ratio of 1.42 and a quick ratio of 0.98. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $313.96 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $297.24.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The medical research company reported $3.96 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.76 by $0.20. The firm had revenue of $7.45 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.45 billion. Amgen had a return on equity of 156.21% and a net margin of 12.74%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $3.98 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Amgen Inc. will post 19.5 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have commented on AMGN shares. William Blair upgraded Amgen from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on Amgen from $328.00 to $332.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, June 14th. Mizuho increased their price target on Amgen from $223.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, May 9th. Argus increased their price target on Amgen from $300.00 to $340.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, June 27th. Finally, TD Cowen lowered their price target on Amgen from $370.00 to $360.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 17th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $312.63.

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.