Kestra Investment Management LLC Raises Stock Position in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Kestra Investment Management LLC raised its stake in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 4.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,578 shares of the medical research company’s stock after buying an additional 147 shares during the period. Kestra Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Amgen were worth $933,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Lansing Street Advisors increased its stake in shares of Amgen by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. Lansing Street Advisors now owns 2,582 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $832,000 after purchasing an additional 32 shares in the last quarter. Unionview LLC increased its stake in shares of Amgen by 3.8% during the 3rd quarter. Unionview LLC now owns 876 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $282,000 after purchasing an additional 32 shares in the last quarter. AM Investment Strategies LLC increased its stake in shares of Amgen by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. AM Investment Strategies LLC now owns 7,471 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $2,407,000 after purchasing an additional 33 shares in the last quarter. Avidian Wealth Enterprises LLC increased its stake in shares of Amgen by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Avidian Wealth Enterprises LLC now owns 5,863 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,889,000 after purchasing an additional 33 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Beacon Financial Advisory LLC increased its stake in shares of Amgen by 4.6% during the 3rd quarter. Beacon Financial Advisory LLC now owns 769 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $248,000 after purchasing an additional 34 shares in the last quarter. 76.50% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on AMGN. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $405.00 price objective on shares of Amgen in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of Amgen from $256.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. UBS Group decreased their target price on shares of Amgen from $335.00 to $326.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. StockNews.com lowered shares of Amgen from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Piper Sandler raised their target price on shares of Amgen from $310.00 to $329.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $314.09.

Insider Buying and Selling

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 Jonathan P. Graham sold 25,045 shares of Amgen stock in a transaction 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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 28,987 shares in the company, valued at $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 35,405 shares of company stock valued at $10,410,596 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.69% of the company’s stock.

Amgen Stock Performance

NASDAQ:AMGN opened at $292.80 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.62. The firm has a market capitalization of $157.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.78, a PEG ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.56. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $274.73 and its 200 day simple moving average is $300.81. Amgen Inc. has a twelve month low of $253.30 and a twelve month high of $346.85.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last posted its earnings results 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 net margin of 12.24% and a return on equity of 176.32%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Amgen Inc. will post 20.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Amgen Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th will be issued a dividend of $2.38 per share. This is a positive change from Amgen’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.25. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $9.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.25%. Amgen’s payout ratio is presently 119.21%.

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.