Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators Sells 257 Shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators lessened its stake in shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 4.9% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 4,953 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 257 shares during the quarter. Amgen accounts for about 0.6% of Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators’ portfolio, making the stock its 25th biggest position. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators’ holdings in Amgen were worth $1,291,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Bell Bank grew its holdings in shares of Amgen by 17.1% in the fourth quarter. Bell Bank now owns 30,733 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $8,010,000 after acquiring an additional 4,477 shares during the period. LifeSteps Financial Inc. boosted its position in Amgen by 3.1% in the fourth quarter. LifeSteps Financial Inc. now owns 1,843 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $480,000 after purchasing an additional 56 shares during the last quarter. Dividend Assets Capital LLC grew its stake in shares of Amgen by 4.8% during 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 during the period. Greystone Financial Group LLC increased its position in shares of Amgen by 25.6% during 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Peregrine Asset Advisers Inc. increased its position in shares of Amgen by 4.4% during the 4th quarter. Peregrine Asset Advisers Inc. now owns 4,700 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,225,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. 76.50% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Amgen

In other news, EVP Jonathan P. Graham sold 25,045 shares of the business’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 transaction of $7,341,190.40. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 28,987 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,496,669.44. The trade was a 46.35 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP David M. Reese sold 25,225 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $304.44, for a total value of $7,679,499.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 69,341 shares of company stock worth $20,644,335 in the last three months. Insiders own 0.69% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently issued reports on AMGN. Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of Amgen from $256.00 to $275.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of Amgen from $335.00 to $280.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 10th. UBS Group reduced their price objective on 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 Amgen in a research report on Friday, November 15th. They set a “peer perform” rating on the stock. Finally, Piper Sandler upped their price target on Amgen from $310.00 to $329.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $314.09.

Amgen Price Performance

NASDAQ:AMGN opened at $303.01 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $276.27 and its 200 day moving average is $300.59. Amgen Inc. has a 12 month low of $253.30 and a 12 month high of $346.85. The company has a market capitalization of $162.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.13, a P/E/G ratio of 2.55 and a beta of 0.56. The company has a current ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.62.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The medical research company reported $5.31 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.04 by $0.27. Amgen had a return on equity of 176.32% and a net margin of 12.24%. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Amgen Inc. will post 20.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Amgen Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be paid a $2.38 dividend. This is a boost from Amgen’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.25. This represents a $9.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.14%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 126.09%.

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.