Wealth Alliance Lowers Stake in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Wealth Alliance cut its stake in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 1.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 10,249 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 176 shares during the quarter. Wealth Alliance’s holdings in Amgen were worth $2,671,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in AMGN. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC grew its stake in shares of Amgen by 33,125.4% in the third quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 4,460,181 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,437,115,000 after acquiring an additional 4,446,757 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in Amgen by 6,812.4% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 2,523,387 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $8,130,610,000 after purchasing an additional 2,486,882 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its holdings in Amgen by 561.5% during the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,539,733 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $496,117,000 after purchasing an additional 1,306,982 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Amgen by 263.8% in the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,038,593 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $270,699,000 after buying an additional 753,147 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its holdings in shares of Amgen by 40.7% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,338,665 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $609,526,000 after buying an additional 676,598 shares in the last quarter. 76.50% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Amgen news, EVP Jonathan P. Graham sold 25,045 shares of Amgen stock in a transaction on Friday, February 7th. The shares were 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 owns 28,987 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,496,669.44. The trade was a 46.35 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Murdo Gordon sold 8,771 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $294.79, for a total transaction of $2,585,603.09. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 44,186 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,025,590.94. The trade was a 16.56 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 35,405 shares of company stock valued at $10,410,596. 0.69% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Amgen Stock Up 0.5 %

NASDAQ:AMGN opened at $294.27 on Thursday. Amgen Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $253.30 and a fifty-two week high of $346.85. The stock has a market capitalization of $158.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.98, a P/E/G ratio of 2.53 and a beta of 0.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.62, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 1.26. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $275.15 and its 200-day simple moving average is $300.77.

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

Amgen Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th will be issued a $2.38 dividend. This represents a $9.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.24%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. This is a positive change from Amgen’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.25. Amgen’s payout ratio is presently 126.09%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AMGN has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Redburn Partners lowered their target price on shares of Amgen from $200.00 to $195.00 in a report on Wednesday, November 27th. Leerink Partners cut their price target on shares of Amgen from $349.00 to $302.00 in a report on Wednesday, November 27th. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $380.00 price target on shares of Amgen in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Wolfe Research started coverage on shares of Amgen in a research note on Friday, November 15th. They issued a “peer perform” rating on the stock. Finally, Piper Sandler raised their price target on shares of Amgen from $310.00 to $329.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $314.09.

About Amgen

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.