Howard Capital Management Inc. Has $5.22 Million Stock Holdings in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Howard Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 2.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 20,015 shares of the medical research company’s stock after purchasing an additional 468 shares during the quarter. Howard Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Amgen were worth $5,217,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Talbot Financial LLC lifted its holdings in Amgen by 5.6% during the 4th quarter. Talbot Financial LLC now owns 42,791 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $11,153,000 after purchasing an additional 2,274 shares during the last quarter. Swiss National Bank lifted its holdings in Amgen by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 1,592,233 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $513,033,000 after purchasing an additional 5,500 shares during the last quarter. Asset Advisors Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Amgen by 9.0% during the third quarter. Asset Advisors Investment Management LLC now owns 35,934 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $11,578,000 after buying an additional 2,954 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Amgen by 6.0% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 635,172 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $204,659,000 after buying an additional 35,785 shares in the last quarter. Finally, First Horizon Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Amgen by 3.2% during the third quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 60,769 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $19,581,000 after buying an additional 1,872 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.50% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Amgen

In related news, EVP David M. Reese sold 8,711 shares of the company’s 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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 62,147 shares in the company, valued at $18,222,743.34. This represents a 12.29 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Nancy A. Grygiel sold 1,589 shares of the company’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 completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 7,210 shares in the company, valued at $2,195,228.70. The trade was a 18.06 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 69,341 shares of company stock worth $20,644,335. Insiders own 0.69% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on AMGN shares. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $324.00 target price on shares of Amgen in a report on Friday, January 24th. StockNews.com downgraded Amgen from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Citigroup reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Amgen in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Truist Financial dropped their target price on Amgen from $333.00 to $298.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating on shares of Amgen in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Two investment 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 company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Amgen currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $314.09.

Amgen Stock Performance

NASDAQ:AMGN opened at $303.01 on Friday. 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. The company has a current ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.62. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $276.27 and its 200-day moving average is $300.40. Amgen Inc. has a 1-year low of $253.30 and a 1-year high of $346.85.

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

Amgen Increases Dividend

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

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.