HM Payson & Co. Increases Stock Holdings in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

HM Payson & Co. lifted its position in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 3.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 206,399 shares of the medical research company’s stock after buying an additional 7,219 shares during the quarter. HM Payson & Co.’s holdings in Amgen were worth $53,796,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of AMGN. Capital Performance Advisors LLP purchased a new stake in Amgen in the third quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Centricity Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Amgen in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC purchased a new stake in Amgen in the third quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Synergy Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in Amgen in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Finally, Heck Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Amgen in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $36,000. 76.50% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Amgen

In other news, EVP David M. Reese sold 25,225 shares of Amgen stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the executive vice president now owns 36,922 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,240,533.68. The trade was a 40.59 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Jonathan P. Graham sold 25,045 shares of Amgen 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 sale, the executive vice president now owns 28,987 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $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 valued at $20,644,335 in the last quarter. 0.69% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have commented on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company reiterated an “equal weight” rating on shares of Amgen in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $380.00 price target on shares of Amgen in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. UBS Group reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Amgen in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Bank of America increased their price target on shares of Amgen from $275.00 to $294.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Truist Financial cut their target price on shares of Amgen from $333.00 to $298.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Amgen currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $314.95.

Amgen Stock Performance

Shares of Amgen stock opened at $324.86 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.62. The firm has a market capitalization of $174.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 43.03, a P/E/G ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 0.56. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $286.14 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $299.89. Amgen Inc. has a 12 month low of $253.30 and a 12 month high of $346.85.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The medical research company reported $5.31 earnings per share (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%. On average, equities analysts forecast that Amgen Inc. will post 20.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Amgen Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 16th will be given a $2.38 dividend. This represents a $9.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.93%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 16th. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.