LifeSteps Financial Inc. Boosts Stake in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

LifeSteps Financial Inc. increased its position in shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 3.1% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 1,843 shares of the medical research company’s stock after buying an additional 56 shares during the quarter. LifeSteps Financial Inc.’s holdings in Amgen were worth $480,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AMGN. Capital Performance Advisors LLP purchased a new position in shares of Amgen during the third quarter worth about $25,000. Centricity Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Amgen in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC acquired a new position in shares of Amgen in the third quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Heck Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Amgen during the fourth quarter worth approximately $36,000. Finally, PrairieView Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Amgen by 118.3% during the fourth quarter. PrairieView Partners LLC now owns 179 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $46,000 after purchasing an additional 97 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.50% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Nancy A. Grygiel sold 1,589 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $304.47, for a total value of $483,802.83. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 7,210 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,195,228.70. This trade represents a 18.06 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP David M. Reese sold 25,225 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $304.44, for a total transaction 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. The trade was 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 valued at $20,644,335 in the last quarter. 0.69% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Amgen Stock Up 1.7 %

AMGN opened at $303.01 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $162.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.13, a PEG ratio of 2.55 and a beta of 0.56. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $276.27 and its 200 day simple moving average is $300.59. Amgen Inc. has a 52 week low of $253.30 and a 52 week high of $346.85. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.62.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The medical research company reported $5.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 research analysts anticipate that Amgen Inc. will post 20.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Amgen Increases Dividend

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AMGN has been the topic of several recent research reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their price objective on shares of Amgen from $305.00 to $285.00 in a research note on Wednesday, November 27th. Wolfe Research began coverage on shares of Amgen in a report on Friday, November 15th. They set a “peer perform” rating for the company. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $324.00 price objective on shares of Amgen in a report on Friday, January 24th. Piper Sandler Companies reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $310.00 price target on shares of Amgen in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Finally, William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Amgen in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target 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.