Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) Short Interest Up 11.5% in January

Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) saw a large increase in short interest in the month of January. As of January 31st, there was short interest totalling 12,740,000 shares, an increase of 11.5% from the January 15th total of 11,430,000 shares. Currently, 2.4% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 3,820,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 3.3 days.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on AMGN. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on Amgen in a research report on Friday, November 15th. They set a “peer perform” rating for the company. UBS Group lowered their target price on Amgen from $335.00 to $326.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Citigroup reduced their price target on shares of Amgen from $310.00 to $295.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. TD Cowen increased their price objective on shares of Amgen from $381.00 to $383.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Finally, Redburn Partners reduced their target price on shares of Amgen from $200.00 to $195.00 in a report on Wednesday, November 27th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $314.09.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Amgen news, EVP Murdo Gordon sold 8,771 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was 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 sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, SVP Nancy A. Grygiel sold 1,589 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 approximately $2,195,228.70. This represents a 18.06 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 35,405 shares of company stock worth $10,410,596. Company insiders own 0.69% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Amgen

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of AMGN. South Plains Financial Inc. bought a new stake in Amgen during the 4th quarter valued at $37,000. Arrow Financial Corp boosted its position in Amgen by 6.2% during the fourth quarter. Arrow Financial Corp now owns 15,597 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $4,065,000 after purchasing an additional 909 shares in the last quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV purchased a new position in Amgen in the fourth quarter valued at about $30,374,000. FAS Wealth Partners Inc. raised its holdings in Amgen by 3.4% in the fourth quarter. FAS Wealth Partners Inc. now owns 8,926 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $2,327,000 after purchasing an additional 293 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Westbourne Investments Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Amgen during the fourth quarter valued at about $476,000. 76.50% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Amgen Trading Down 2.0 %

AMGN opened at $291.16 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.96, a current ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.62. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $273.75 and its two-hundred day moving average is $302.14. The company has a market capitalization of $156.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.56, a PEG ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.56. Amgen has a 52 week low of $253.30 and a 52 week high of $346.85.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last announced 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 return on equity of 176.32% and a net margin of 12.24%. Analysts forecast that Amgen will post 20.59 earnings per share for the current year.

Amgen Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be given a $2.38 dividend. This represents a $9.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.27%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. This is a boost from Amgen’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.25. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio is presently 126.09%.

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.