Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund Grows Position in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund raised its stake in shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 0.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 46,088 shares of the medical research company’s stock after acquiring an additional 167 shares during the period. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund’s holdings in Amgen were worth $12,012,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Capital Performance Advisors LLP bought a new position in shares of Amgen during the third quarter valued at about $25,000. Centricity Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Amgen during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC bought a new stake in Amgen during the third quarter worth $29,000. Heck Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Amgen in the fourth quarter worth $36,000. Finally, PrairieView Partners LLC grew its stake in Amgen by 118.3% in the 4th quarter. PrairieView Partners LLC now owns 179 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $46,000 after purchasing an additional 97 shares during the period. 76.50% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Amgen Trading Up 1.9 %

Shares of AMGN stock opened at $315.63 on Wednesday. Amgen Inc. has a 52-week low of $253.30 and a 52-week high of $346.85. The business’s fifty day moving average is $278.13 and its 200 day moving average is $300.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.62, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 1.26. The company has a market capitalization of $169.56 billion, a PE ratio of 41.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 0.56.

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 the consensus estimate of $5.04 by $0.27. Amgen had a return on equity of 176.32% and a net margin of 12.24%. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Amgen Inc. will post 20.62 EPS 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 paid a $2.38 dividend. This represents a $9.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.02%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. This is a boost from Amgen’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.25. Amgen’s payout ratio is currently 126.09%.

Insider Transactions at Amgen

In other Amgen news, EVP David M. Reese sold 25,225 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $304.44, for a total value of $7,679,499.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 36,922 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,240,533.68. This represents a 40.59 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Nancy A. Grygiel sold 1,589 shares of Amgen stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $304.47, for a total transaction of $483,802.83. Following the transaction, 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 69,341 shares of company stock valued at $20,644,335 in the last quarter. Insiders own 0.69% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently commented on AMGN. Wolfe Research started coverage on Amgen in a research note on Friday, November 15th. They set a “peer perform” rating on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their price objective on shares of Amgen from $305.00 to $285.00 in a research report on Wednesday, November 27th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $324.00 price target on shares of Amgen in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating on shares of Amgen in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Amgen in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Amgen currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $314.09.

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.