Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) Shares Sold by Paradigm Asset Management Co. LLC

Paradigm Asset Management Co. LLC reduced its stake in shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 84.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 900 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 4,800 shares during the period. Paradigm Asset Management Co. LLC’s holdings in Amgen were worth $235,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. PYA Waltman Capital LLC grew its position in Amgen by 2.9% during the fourth quarter. PYA Waltman Capital LLC now owns 10,927 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $2,848,000 after acquiring an additional 307 shares during the period. Physicians Financial Services Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Amgen by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Physicians Financial Services Inc. now owns 17,847 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $4,652,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares in the last quarter. Cassaday & Co Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Amgen by 2.7% in the 4th quarter. Cassaday & Co Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,936 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,026,000 after purchasing an additional 104 shares in the last quarter. Compass Capital Corp MA ADV purchased a new stake in shares of Amgen during the 4th quarter worth about $227,000. Finally, Cordatus Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Amgen during the 4th quarter worth approximately $2,153,000. 76.50% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have weighed in on AMGN. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on shares of Amgen in a research report on Friday, November 15th. They set a “peer perform” rating on the stock. UBS Group reduced their target price on shares of Amgen from $335.00 to $326.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Bank of America boosted their price objective on Amgen from $256.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Truist Financial dropped their target price on Amgen from $333.00 to $298.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, Leerink Partners reduced their price target on Amgen from $349.00 to $302.00 in a research report on Wednesday, November 27th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $314.09.

Amgen Stock Performance

Shares of Amgen stock opened at $303.01 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.62, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 1.26. Amgen Inc. has a 1 year low of $253.30 and a 1 year high of $346.85. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $276.27 and its 200-day simple moving average is $300.59. The firm has a market cap of $162.78 billion, a PE ratio of 40.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.55 and a beta of 0.56.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The medical research company reported $5.31 earnings per share 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%. Equities analysts forecast that Amgen Inc. will post 20.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Amgen Increases Dividend

The company 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. This is a positive change 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 is Friday, February 14th. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio is currently 126.09%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Nancy A. Grygiel sold 1,589 shares of the company’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 transaction of $483,802.83. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 7,210 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,195,228.70. This represents a 18.06 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Jonathan P. Graham sold 25,045 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $293.12, for a total value of $7,341,190.40. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 28,987 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,496,669.44. This trade represents a 46.35 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 69,341 shares of company stock worth $20,644,335 over the last ninety days. 0.69% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.