Verus Capital Partners LLC Lowers Stock Holdings in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Verus Capital Partners LLC lowered its position in shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 9.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,632 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 276 shares during the period. Verus Capital Partners LLC’s holdings in Amgen were worth $686,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of AMGN. Fusion Capital LLC grew its position in Amgen by 3.4% during the fourth quarter. Fusion Capital LLC now owns 23,805 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $6,204,000 after acquiring an additional 783 shares during the last quarter. Fort Sheridan Advisors LLC raised its position in Amgen by 15.6% in the 4th quarter. Fort Sheridan Advisors LLC now owns 6,778 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,766,000 after purchasing an additional 916 shares during the period. Generali Investments Towarzystwo Funduszy Inwestycyjnych lifted its stake in Amgen by 8.7% in the fourth quarter. Generali Investments Towarzystwo Funduszy Inwestycyjnych now owns 2,500 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $652,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Linscomb Wealth Inc. boosted its position in Amgen by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Linscomb Wealth Inc. now owns 33,943 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $8,847,000 after buying an additional 396 shares during the period. Finally, Proficio Capital Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Amgen by 35,087.4% in the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 470,808 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $122,711,000 after buying an additional 469,470 shares during the period. 76.50% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on AMGN shares. Leerink Partners reduced their price target on Amgen from $349.00 to $302.00 in a research report on Wednesday, November 27th. Piper Sandler upped their target price on Amgen from $310.00 to $329.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, February 10th. Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of Amgen from $256.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on shares of Amgen in a report on Friday, November 15th. They issued a “peer perform” rating for the company. Finally, Truist Financial lowered their target price on Amgen from $333.00 to $298.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Amgen presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $314.09.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP David M. Reese sold 8,711 shares of the company’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 owns 62,147 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,222,743.34. This represents a 12.29 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Murdo Gordon sold 8,771 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $294.79, for a total value of $2,585,603.09. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 44,186 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,025,590.94. The trade was a 16.56 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 69,341 shares of company stock worth $20,644,335. Corporate insiders own 0.69% of the company’s stock.

Amgen Trading Up 0.7 %

Shares of Amgen stock opened at $308.06 on Friday. Amgen Inc. has a 1-year low of $253.30 and a 1-year high of $346.85. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $280.87 and its 200-day simple moving average is $300.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.62, a current ratio of 1.26 and a quick ratio of 0.95. The stock has a market capitalization of $165.49 billion, a PE ratio of 40.80, a P/E/G ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 0.56.

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 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%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Amgen Inc. will post 20.62 earnings per share for the current year.

Amgen Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th will be issued a $2.38 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $9.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.09%. This is an increase from Amgen’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.25. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio is currently 126.09%.

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.