Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. Increases Position in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. raised its holdings in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 5.5% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 26,938 shares of the medical research company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,400 shares during the period. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc.’s holdings in Amgen were worth $7,021,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Capital Performance Advisors LLP purchased a new stake in shares of Amgen during the 3rd quarter worth about $25,000. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC acquired a new position in Amgen during the third quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Heck Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Amgen during the fourth quarter worth approximately $36,000. Livelsberger Financial Advisory acquired a new stake in shares of Amgen in the third quarter worth $56,000. Finally, Kennebec Savings Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Amgen in the third quarter worth $57,000. 76.50% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AMGN has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Redburn Partners reduced their price objective on Amgen from $200.00 to $195.00 in a research note on Wednesday, November 27th. William Blair restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Amgen in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Truist Financial dropped their target price on shares of Amgen from $333.00 to $298.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $324.00 price target on shares of Amgen in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $405.00 price target on shares of Amgen in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Amgen has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $313.23.

Insider Activity at Amgen

In other news, SVP Nancy A. Grygiel sold 1,589 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $304.47, for a total value of $483,802.83. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 7,210 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,195,228.70. This trade 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 hyperlink. Insiders own 0.69% of the company’s stock.

Amgen Trading Down 1.4 %

NASDAQ:AMGN opened at $293.54 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.96, a current ratio of 1.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.55. Amgen Inc. has a 1-year low of $253.30 and a 1-year high of $346.85. The firm has a market capitalization of $157.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 0.56. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $272.26 and a 200 day simple moving average of $303.21.

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

Amgen Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th will be issued a dividend of $2.38 per share. This represents a $9.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.24%. This is a positive change from Amgen’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.25. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.