Navellier & Associates Inc. Lowers Stock Holdings in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Navellier & Associates Inc. lowered its holdings in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 1.2% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 14,645 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 172 shares during the quarter. Navellier & Associates Inc.’s holdings in Amgen were worth $3,817,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Prentice Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Amgen by 8.8% in the 4th quarter. Prentice Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,752 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $457,000 after purchasing an additional 142 shares in the last quarter. Bell Bank raised its holdings in shares of Amgen by 17.1% in the 4th quarter. Bell Bank now owns 30,733 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $8,010,000 after purchasing an additional 4,477 shares in the last quarter. LifeSteps Financial Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Amgen by 3.1% in the 4th quarter. LifeSteps Financial Inc. now owns 1,843 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $480,000 after purchasing an additional 56 shares in the last quarter. Dividend Assets Capital LLC raised its holdings in shares of Amgen by 4.8% in the 4th quarter. Dividend Assets Capital LLC now owns 32,118 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $8,371,000 after purchasing an additional 1,473 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Greystone Financial Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Amgen by 25.6% in the 4th quarter. Greystone Financial Group LLC now owns 24,393 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $6,358,000 after purchasing an additional 4,979 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.50% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP David M. Reese sold 25,225 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $304.44, for a total transaction of $7,679,499.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 36,922 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,240,533.68. This represents a 40.59 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Nancy A. Grygiel sold 1,589 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $304.47, for a total transaction of $483,802.83. Following the sale, 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 69,341 shares of company stock valued at $20,644,335 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.69% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AMGN has been the subject of several recent research reports. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “buy” rating and issued a $380.00 price target on shares of Amgen in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. UBS Group reduced their price objective on shares of Amgen from $335.00 to $326.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Wolfe Research began coverage on shares of Amgen in a research note on Friday, November 15th. They set a “peer perform” rating for the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price objective on shares of Amgen from $305.00 to $285.00 in a research note on Wednesday, November 27th. Finally, Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of Amgen from $256.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Two equities 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 given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Amgen has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $314.09.

Amgen Stock Up 1.7 %

AMGN stock opened at $303.01 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $276.27 and its 200-day simple moving average is $300.59. The company has a market capitalization of $162.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.55 and a beta of 0.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.62, a current ratio of 1.26 and a quick ratio of 0.95. Amgen Inc. has a 12 month low of $253.30 and a 12 month high of $346.85.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last released its quarterly earnings data 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%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Amgen Inc. will post 20.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Amgen Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be issued a $2.38 dividend. This is an increase from Amgen’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.25. This represents a $9.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.14%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio is 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.