Congress Asset Management Co. Grows Stock Holdings in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Congress Asset Management Co. boosted its holdings in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 16.6% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 62,436 shares of the medical research company’s stock after acquiring an additional 8,895 shares during the quarter. Congress Asset Management Co.’s holdings in Amgen were worth $16,273,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. Roxbury Financial LLC bought a new position in Amgen in the 4th quarter valued at $572,000. CapWealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Amgen by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. CapWealth Advisors LLC now owns 29,837 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $7,777,000 after purchasing an additional 409 shares during the period. BXM Wealth LLC bought a new position in Amgen in the 4th quarter valued at $314,000. Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV boosted its holdings in Amgen by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV now owns 18,521 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $4,828,000 after purchasing an additional 241 shares during the period. Finally, ABC Arbitrage SA bought a new position in Amgen in the 4th quarter valued at $1,510,000. 76.50% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Amgen

In related news, SVP Nancy A. Grygiel sold 1,589 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $304.47, for a total transaction of $483,802.83. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 7,210 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,195,228.70. The trade was a 18.06 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Jonathan P. Graham sold 25,045 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $293.12, for a total transaction of $7,341,190.40. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 28,987 shares in the company, valued at $8,496,669.44. The trade was a 46.35 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 35,405 shares of company stock worth $10,410,596 over the last 90 days. 0.69% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Amgen Price Performance

AMGN stock opened at $291.16 on Monday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $274.12 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $301.63. Amgen Inc. has a 12-month low of $253.30 and a 12-month high of $346.85. The stock has a market capitalization of $156.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.56, a PEG ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.56. The company has a current ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.62.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The medical research company reported $5.31 earnings per share (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 analysts predict that Amgen Inc. will post 20.59 earnings per share for the current year.

Amgen Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th will be given a dividend of $2.38 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $9.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.27%. This is a boost from Amgen’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.25. Amgen’s payout ratio is currently 119.21%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have commented on AMGN. Truist Financial cut their price target on shares of Amgen from $333.00 to $298.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Redburn Partners dropped their price objective on shares of Amgen from $200.00 to $195.00 in a report on Wednesday, November 27th. William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Amgen in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Citigroup dropped their price objective on shares of Amgen from $310.00 to $295.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $324.00 price objective on shares of Amgen in a report on Friday, January 24th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Amgen has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $314.09.

Amgen 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.