Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) Shares Sold by Moors & Cabot Inc.

Moors & Cabot Inc. reduced its stake in shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 8.3% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 18,760 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 1,689 shares during the quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc.’s holdings in Amgen were worth $4,890,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Amgen by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 29,317,018 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $9,446,236,000 after purchasing an additional 345,537 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Amgen by 25.4% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 13,205,604 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $3,441,909,000 after buying an additional 2,672,975 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Amgen by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 12,122,889 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $3,893,771,000 after buying an additional 103,851 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its position in shares of Amgen by 11.7% during the 3rd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 5,143,330 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,657,183,000 after buying an additional 538,545 shares during the period. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its position in shares of Amgen by 6.3% during the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 4,442,543 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,431,432,000 after buying an additional 264,396 shares during the period. 76.50% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Amgen Price Performance

Shares of AMGN opened at $318.89 on Wednesday. Amgen Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $253.30 and a fifty-two week high of $346.85. The company has a market capitalization of $171.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 0.53. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $288.66 and a 200-day simple moving average of $299.43. 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 (NASDAQ:AMGN) last posted 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%. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Amgen Inc. will post 20.62 earnings per share for the current year.

Amgen Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 16th will be issued a $2.38 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 16th. This represents a $9.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.99%. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 126.09%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have issued reports on AMGN shares. Johnson Rice set a $294.00 target price on Amgen in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Leerink Partners cut their price objective on Amgen from $349.00 to $302.00 in a research report on Wednesday, November 27th. Redburn Partners cut their price objective on Amgen from $200.00 to $195.00 in a research report on Wednesday, November 27th. StockNews.com lowered Amgen from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Bank of America upped their price objective on Amgen from $275.00 to $294.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $314.04.

Insider Buying and Selling at Amgen

In related news, SVP Nancy A. Grygiel sold 1,589 shares of Amgen stock in a transaction on 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP David M. Reese sold 25,225 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 in the company, valued at approximately $11,240,533.68. This trade represents a 40.59 % decrease in their position. 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 quarter. 0.69% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.