Principle Wealth Partners LLC Lowers Stock Holdings in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Principle Wealth Partners LLC lessened its position in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 11.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 45,715 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 5,635 shares during the quarter. Principle Wealth Partners LLC’s holdings in Amgen were worth $11,915,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Lansing Street Advisors grew its holdings in Amgen by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. Lansing Street Advisors now owns 2,582 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $832,000 after buying an additional 32 shares during the last quarter. Unionview LLC lifted its position in shares of Amgen by 3.8% in the third quarter. Unionview LLC now owns 876 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $282,000 after acquiring an additional 32 shares in the last quarter. AM Investment Strategies LLC boosted its stake in shares of Amgen by 0.4% during the third quarter. AM Investment Strategies LLC now owns 7,471 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $2,407,000 after acquiring an additional 33 shares during the last quarter. Avidian Wealth Enterprises LLC raised its stake in Amgen by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. Avidian Wealth Enterprises LLC now owns 5,863 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,889,000 after purchasing an additional 33 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Beacon Financial Advisory LLC lifted its holdings in Amgen by 4.6% in the 3rd quarter. Beacon Financial Advisory LLC now owns 769 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $248,000 after purchasing an additional 34 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.50% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently commented on AMGN. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $324.00 price target on shares of Amgen in a report on Friday, January 24th. Bank of America raised their target price on shares of Amgen from $256.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Redburn Partners reduced their price target on Amgen from $200.00 to $195.00 in a research note on Wednesday, November 27th. Citigroup lowered their price objective on Amgen from $310.00 to $295.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Amgen from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Two investment 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $314.09.

Amgen Stock Performance

NASDAQ:AMGN opened at $294.79 on Tuesday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $272.26 and its 200 day simple moving average is $302.77. The company has a current ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.62. Amgen Inc. has a twelve month low of $253.30 and a twelve month high of $346.85. The firm has a market capitalization of $158.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.05, a PEG ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.56.

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

Amgen Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be issued a $2.38 dividend. This represents a $9.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.23%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. This is a boost from Amgen’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.25. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio is currently 119.21%.

Insider Buying and Selling 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 transaction of $483,802.83. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 7,210 shares in the company, valued at $2,195,228.70. This trade represents a 18.06 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Jonathan P. Graham sold 25,045 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $293.12, for a total value of $7,341,190.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 28,987 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,496,669.44. This trade represents a 46.35 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.69% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.