Conning Inc. Buys 105 Shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Conning Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 2.2% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 4,939 shares of the medical research company’s stock after acquiring an additional 105 shares during the period. Conning Inc.’s holdings in Amgen were worth $1,287,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in AMGN. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC lifted its position in Amgen by 33,125.4% during the third quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 4,460,181 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,437,115,000 after purchasing an additional 4,446,757 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Amgen by 6,812.4% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 2,523,387 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $8,130,610,000 after acquiring an additional 2,486,882 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its position in Amgen by 561.5% during the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,539,733 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $496,117,000 after acquiring an additional 1,306,982 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its holdings in Amgen by 40.7% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,338,665 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $609,526,000 after acquiring an additional 676,598 shares during the period. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its position in shares of Amgen by 11.7% during the 3rd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 5,143,330 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,657,183,000 after purchasing an additional 538,545 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.50% of the company’s stock.

Amgen Stock Down 1.4 %

AMGN stock opened at $293.54 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $157.79 billion, a PE ratio of 37.59, a PEG ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 0.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.55, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a current ratio of 1.32. Amgen Inc. has a one year low of $253.30 and a one year high of $346.85. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $272.04 and its 200-day moving average price is $303.51.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The medical research company reported $5.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.04 by $0.27. Amgen had a return on equity of 168.35% and a net margin of 13.00%. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Amgen Inc. will post 19.56 EPS for the current year.

Amgen Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced 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 is Friday, February 14th. This is a positive change from Amgen’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.25. This represents a $9.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.24%. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 115.24%.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Nancy A. Grygiel sold 1,589 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $304.47, for a total transaction of $483,802.83. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.69% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AMGN has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. UBS Group cut their price objective on Amgen from $335.00 to $326.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Piper Sandler Companies reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $310.00 target price on shares of Amgen in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of Amgen from $335.00 to $280.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Redburn Partners cut their price target on shares of Amgen from $200.00 to $195.00 in a report on Wednesday, November 27th. Finally, William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Amgen in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $313.23.

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.