Amgen Sees Unusually Large Options Volume (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) saw some unusual options trading activity on Wednesday. Stock investors bought 21,787 call options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 43% compared to the typical volume of 15,254 call options.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on AMGN shares. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $324.00 price objective on shares of Amgen in a report on Friday, January 24th. Bank of America reaffirmed an “underperform” rating and issued a $256.00 price target on shares of Amgen in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Citigroup dropped their target price on shares of Amgen from $310.00 to $295.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. UBS Group decreased their target price on shares of Amgen from $335.00 to $326.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Truist Financial lowered their price objective on Amgen from $333.00 to $298.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $314.00.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Amgen

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in AMGN. AMF Tjanstepension AB raised its holdings in shares of Amgen by 16.9% in the 3rd quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 120,389 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $38,825,000 after purchasing an additional 17,387 shares during the period. Czech National Bank lifted its stake in shares of Amgen by 7.1% in the 3rd quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 109,459 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $35,269,000 after purchasing an additional 7,237 shares during the period. Azzad Asset Management Inc. ADV raised its stake in Amgen by 44.9% during the 3rd quarter. Azzad Asset Management Inc. ADV now owns 8,923 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $2,875,000 after buying an additional 2,766 shares during the period. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Amgen by 13.0% during the third quarter. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC now owns 5,840 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,882,000 after buying an additional 672 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Richard P Slaughter Associates Inc purchased a new position in Amgen in the third quarter worth $200,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.50% of the company’s stock.

Amgen Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ AMGN traded up $15.24 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $304.26. 2,680,615 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,111,791. The company has a market cap of $163.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.90, a PEG ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 0.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.55, a current ratio of 1.32 and a quick ratio of 0.96. Amgen has a 52 week low of $253.30 and a 52 week high of $346.85. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $271.14 and a 200 day moving average price of $303.52.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The medical research company reported $5.31 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.04 by $0.27. Amgen had a return on equity of 168.35% and a net margin of 13.00%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Amgen will post 19.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Amgen Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $9.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.13%. This is a positive change from Amgen’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.25. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio is currently 115.24%.

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.