Korea Investment CORP Boosts Holdings in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Korea Investment CORP boosted its holdings in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 2.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 372,291 shares of the medical research company’s stock after purchasing an additional 8,576 shares during the quarter. Korea Investment CORP owned approximately 0.07% of Amgen worth $97,034,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC purchased a new position in Amgen during the third quarter valued at $29,000. Centricity Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Amgen during the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. Synergy Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Amgen during the fourth quarter valued at about $34,000. Atala Financial Inc bought a new stake in shares of Amgen in the fourth quarter worth about $34,000. Finally, Heck Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Amgen in the fourth quarter worth about $36,000. 76.50% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have issued reports on AMGN shares. Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating on shares of Amgen in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Citigroup restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Amgen in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Amgen from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Leerink Partners dropped their price objective on shares of Amgen from $349.00 to $302.00 in a research note on Wednesday, November 27th. Finally, Truist Financial decreased their target price on shares of Amgen from $333.00 to $298.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Amgen presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $314.04.

Insider Buying and Selling at Amgen

In other news, SVP Nancy A. Grygiel sold 1,589 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 5th. The stock was 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 directly owns 7,210 shares in the company, valued at $2,195,228.70. This trade represents a 18.06 % 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 Murdo Gordon sold 8,771 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $294.79, for a total value of $2,585,603.09. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 44,186 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,025,590.94. This represents a 16.56 % decrease in their position. 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. Corporate insiders own 0.69% of the company’s stock.

Amgen Stock Performance

Shares of Amgen stock opened at $305.71 on Thursday. 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 stock’s fifty day moving average price is $299.66 and its 200-day moving average price is $298.46. The firm has a market cap of $164.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.49, a P/E/G ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 0.53. 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 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.04 by $0.27. Amgen had a net margin of 12.24% and a return on equity of 176.32%. On average, equities research analysts expect that Amgen Inc. will post 20.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Amgen Announces Dividend

The company 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 $2.38 dividend. This represents a $9.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.11%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 16th. 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.