Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) Shares Sold by UMB Bank n.a.

UMB Bank n.a. decreased its position in shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 6.4% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 32,685 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 2,233 shares during the quarter. UMB Bank n.a.’s holdings in Amgen were worth $8,519,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. M.E. Allison & CO. Inc. acquired a new position in Amgen during the fourth quarter worth approximately $388,000. Willner & Heller LLC increased its position in Amgen by 81.9% during the fourth quarter. Willner & Heller LLC now owns 2,925 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $762,000 after buying an additional 1,317 shares during the period. Mechanics Bank Trust Department increased its position in Amgen by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. Mechanics Bank Trust Department now owns 7,854 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $2,047,000 after buying an additional 105 shares during the period. Diversify Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Amgen by 46.5% in the fourth quarter. Diversify Wealth Management LLC now owns 6,809 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,786,000 after purchasing an additional 2,162 shares during the period. Finally, Guardian Investment Management increased its holdings in shares of Amgen by 29.5% in the fourth quarter. Guardian Investment Management now owns 18,358 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $4,785,000 after purchasing an additional 4,179 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.50% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AMGN has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Sanford C. Bernstein initiated coverage on Amgen in a report on Thursday, October 17th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $380.00 target price on the stock. Barclays boosted their target price on Amgen from $300.00 to $315.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. Bank of America reissued an “underperform” rating and issued a $256.00 target price on shares of Amgen in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Amgen in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Finally, Wolfe Research started coverage on Amgen in a report on Friday, November 15th. They issued a “peer perform” rating on the stock. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $314.91.

Amgen Stock Up 1.0 %

Shares of NASDAQ:AMGN opened at $272.11 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $146.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.84, a P/E/G ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 0.56. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $273.95 and its 200-day simple moving average is $307.20. Amgen Inc. has a 52-week low of $253.30 and a 52-week high of $346.85. The company has a quick ratio of 0.96, a current ratio of 1.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.55.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The medical research company reported $5.58 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.11 by $0.47. The firm had revenue of $8.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.50 billion. Amgen had a return on equity of 168.35% and a net margin of 13.00%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 23.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $4.96 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Amgen Inc. will post 19.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Amgen Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th will be paid a $2.38 dividend. This is a positive change from Amgen’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.25. This represents a $9.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.50%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio is presently 115.24%.

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.