AGF Management Ltd. Sells 60,774 Shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

AGF Management Ltd. lowered its position in shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 41.2% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 86,660 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 60,774 shares during the period. AGF Management Ltd.’s holdings in Amgen were worth $22,587,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Talbot Financial LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Amgen by 5.6% in the 4th quarter. Talbot Financial LLC now owns 42,791 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $11,153,000 after buying an additional 2,274 shares during the last quarter. Swiss National Bank boosted its stake in Amgen by 0.3% in the third quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 1,592,233 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $513,033,000 after buying an additional 5,500 shares in the last quarter. Asset Advisors Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Amgen by 9.0% during the third quarter. Asset Advisors Investment Management LLC now owns 35,934 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $11,578,000 after buying an additional 2,954 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Amgen by 6.0% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 635,172 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $204,659,000 after purchasing an additional 35,785 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ascent Wealth Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Amgen by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Ascent Wealth Partners LLC now owns 9,024 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $2,352,000 after buying an additional 64 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 76.50% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other Amgen news, EVP David M. Reese sold 8,711 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $293.22, for a total transaction of $2,554,239.42. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 62,147 shares in the company, valued at $18,222,743.34. This represents a 12.29 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Nancy A. Grygiel sold 1,589 shares of Amgen stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $304.47, for a total value of $483,802.83. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 7,210 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $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 sold a total of 69,341 shares of company stock valued at $20,644,335 in the last three months. 0.69% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Amgen Trading Down 2.6 %

NASDAQ AMGN opened at $318.89 on Wednesday. Amgen Inc. has a one year low of $253.30 and a one year high of $346.85. The company has a market capitalization of $171.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 0.53. 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’s 50-day simple moving average is $288.66 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $299.43.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last released its earnings results 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 net margin of 12.24% and a return on equity of 176.32%. Equities analysts forecast that Amgen Inc. will post 20.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Amgen Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 16th will be given a dividend of $2.38 per share. This represents a $9.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.99%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 16th. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio is presently 126.09%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the company. Wolfe Research started coverage on Amgen in a report on Friday, November 15th. They set a “peer perform” rating on the stock. Citigroup reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Amgen in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Leerink Partners dropped their price objective on Amgen from $349.00 to $302.00 in a research note on Wednesday, November 27th. UBS Group restated a “hold” rating on shares of Amgen in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $380.00 price target on shares of Amgen in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Two research 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Amgen presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $314.04.

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.