Capital Group Private Client Services Inc. Takes $18.43 Million Position in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Capital Group Private Client Services Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 64,823 shares of the medical research company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,430,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Blackston Financial Advisory Group LLC purchased a new stake in Amgen in the fourth quarter worth $287,000. Viking Fund Management LLC purchased a new stake in Amgen in the fourth quarter worth $2,016,000. Monarch Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in Amgen in the fourth quarter worth $204,000. Planned Solutions Inc. bought a new position in Amgen in the fourth quarter worth $30,000. Finally, First National Corp MA ADV raised its holdings in Amgen by 9.5% in the fourth quarter. First National Corp MA ADV now owns 2,420 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $697,000 after purchasing an additional 210 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.50% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Nancy A. Grygiel sold 2,117 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $313.09, for a total value of $662,811.53. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 9,883 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,094,268.47. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.69% of the company’s stock.

Amgen Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:AMGN traded up $0.55 during trading on Friday, hitting $334.85. 1,515,216 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,661,164. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 11.96, a current ratio of 1.42 and a quick ratio of 0.98. Amgen Inc. has a 52-week low of $228.21 and a 52-week high of $346.85. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $313.96 and its 200 day simple moving average is $297.36. The company has a market cap of $179.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 47.84, a PEG ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 0.58.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The medical research company reported $3.96 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.76 by $0.20. The business had revenue of $7.45 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.45 billion. Amgen had a return on equity of 156.21% and a net margin of 12.74%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $3.98 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Amgen Inc. will post 19.5 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AMGN has been the subject of several analyst reports. Barclays upgraded Amgen from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and raised their price target for the company from $230.00 to $300.00 in a report on Friday, May 3rd. StockNews.com upgraded Amgen from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 3rd. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Amgen from $284.00 to $307.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, May 3rd. Raymond James began coverage on Amgen in a report on Thursday, March 28th. They issued a “market perform” rating for the company. Finally, William Blair upgraded Amgen from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, May 3rd. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $312.63.

Amgen Company Profile

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.