Davis R M Inc. Sells 149 Shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Davis R M Inc. reduced its stake in shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 4.3% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 3,324 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 149 shares during the quarter. Davis R M Inc.’s holdings in Amgen were worth $866,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of AMGN. Vista Investment Partners II LLC purchased a new position in Amgen in the 4th quarter worth approximately $555,000. Ranch Capital Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Amgen by 2.2% in the fourth quarter. Ranch Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 8,600 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $2,242,000 after purchasing an additional 183 shares during the last quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance increased its stake in shares of Amgen by 8.1% in the fourth quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance now owns 30,276 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $7,891,000 after buying an additional 2,277 shares during the period. Paragon Private Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in Amgen by 4.3% during the 4th quarter. Paragon Private Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,584 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $673,000 after buying an additional 106 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Meriwether Wealth & Planning LLC purchased a new stake in Amgen during the 4th quarter valued at $417,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.50% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating on shares of Amgen in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. StockNews.com lowered Amgen from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Truist Financial cut their price objective on Amgen from $333.00 to $298.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $324.00 target price on shares of Amgen in a report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Wolfe Research assumed coverage on shares of Amgen in a report on Friday, November 15th. They issued a “peer perform” rating on the stock. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $314.04.

Amgen Price Performance

Shares of AMGN opened at $318.89 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $171.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 42.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 0.53. Amgen Inc. has a twelve month low of $253.30 and a twelve month high of $346.85. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.62. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $288.66 and a 200 day moving average of $299.43.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The medical research company reported $5.31 earnings per share 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 research analysts anticipate 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 issued a dividend of $2.38 per share. This represents a $9.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.99%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 16th. Amgen’s payout ratio is presently 126.09%.

Insider Transactions at Amgen

In related news, EVP David M. Reese sold 8,711 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $293.22, for a total value of $2,554,239.42. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 62,147 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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 can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Murdo Gordon sold 8,771 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $294.79, for a total transaction of $2,585,603.09. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 44,186 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,025,590.94. This represents a 16.56 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 69,341 shares of company stock worth $20,644,335 over the last three months. 0.69% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.