Insider Selling: Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) EVP Sells $2,554,239.42 in Stock

Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) EVP David M. Reese sold 8,711 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $293.22, for a total value of $2,554,239.42. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 62,147 shares in the company, valued at $18,222,743.34. This represents a 12.29 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink.

Amgen Stock Up 1.7 %

Shares of AMGN stock opened at $303.01 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $162.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.58 and a beta of 0.56. Amgen Inc. has a one year low of $253.30 and a one year high of $346.85. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $276.27 and a 200 day moving average price of $300.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.62, a current ratio of 1.26 and a quick ratio of 0.95.

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

Amgen Increases Dividend

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AMGN has been the topic of a number of research reports. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $324.00 price objective on shares of Amgen in a report on Friday, January 24th. Piper Sandler Companies restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $310.00 price objective on shares of Amgen in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. William Blair restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Amgen in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. StockNews.com downgraded Amgen from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their price target on Amgen from $305.00 to $285.00 in a report on Wednesday, November 27th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $314.09.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Capital Performance Advisors LLP bought a new position in shares of Amgen during the third quarter valued at $25,000. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC bought a new position in shares of Amgen during the third quarter valued at $29,000. Centricity Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Amgen during the fourth quarter valued at $25,000. Pinney & Scofield Inc. bought a new position in shares of Amgen during the fourth quarter valued at $26,000. Finally, Ritter Daniher Financial Advisory LLC DE lifted its holdings in shares of Amgen by 66.2% during the fourth quarter. Ritter Daniher Financial Advisory LLC DE now owns 128 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $33,000 after acquiring an additional 51 shares during the period. 76.50% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.