Convergence Financial LLC Buys 382 Shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Convergence Financial LLC increased its stake in shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 60.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,016 shares of the medical research company’s stock after purchasing an additional 382 shares during the quarter. Convergence Financial LLC’s holdings in Amgen were worth $265,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Whipplewood Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Amgen during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $103,000. NewEdge Wealth LLC boosted its holdings in Amgen by 12.5% during the 4th quarter. NewEdge Wealth LLC now owns 82,196 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $21,423,000 after acquiring an additional 9,113 shares during the period. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund boosted its holdings in Amgen by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund now owns 46,088 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $12,012,000 after acquiring an additional 167 shares during the period. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC boosted its holdings in Amgen by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC now owns 6,701 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,747,000 after acquiring an additional 44 shares during the period. Finally, Red Crane Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Amgen during the 4th quarter valued at $515,000. Institutional investors own 76.50% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on AMGN shares. Citigroup restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Amgen in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Truist Financial dropped their price objective on Amgen from $333.00 to $298.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Wolfe Research started coverage on Amgen in a report on Friday, November 15th. They set a “peer perform” rating for the company. William Blair restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Amgen in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Finally, Piper Sandler upped their target price on Amgen from $310.00 to $329.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, February 10th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $314.09.

Insider Transactions at Amgen

In other news, EVP David M. Reese sold 8,711 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $293.22, for a total value of $2,554,239.42. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 62,147 shares in the company, valued at $18,222,743.34. This trade represents a 12.29 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Jonathan P. Graham sold 25,045 shares of the firm’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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,496,669.44. The trade was a 46.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 69,341 shares of company stock worth $20,644,335 over the last three months. 0.69% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Amgen Trading Down 2.9 %

Amgen stock opened at $306.38 on Thursday. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $279.08 and a two-hundred day moving average of $300.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.62, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 1.26. Amgen Inc. has a one year low of $253.30 and a one year high of $346.85. The stock has a market cap of $164.59 billion, a PE ratio of 40.58, 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 EPS for the quarter, beating 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%. On average, research analysts anticipate that Amgen Inc. will post 20.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Amgen Increases Dividend

The firm 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. This is a boost from Amgen’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.25. This represents a $9.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.11%. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 126.09%.

Amgen 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.