Tower Bridge Advisors Boosts Holdings in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Tower Bridge Advisors grew its position in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 2.1% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 13,479 shares of the medical research company’s stock after purchasing an additional 280 shares during the period. Tower Bridge Advisors’ holdings in Amgen were worth $3,513,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in AMGN. Capital Performance Advisors LLP purchased a new stake in Amgen in the 3rd quarter worth about $25,000. Centricity Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Amgen in the fourth quarter worth approximately $25,000. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC bought a new stake in shares of Amgen during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $29,000. Heck Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Amgen during the 4th quarter valued at $36,000. Finally, PrairieView Partners LLC grew its position in Amgen by 118.3% in the 4th quarter. PrairieView Partners LLC now owns 179 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $46,000 after acquiring an additional 97 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.50% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AMGN has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $324.00 target price on shares of Amgen in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Wells Fargo & Company reiterated an “equal weight” rating on shares of Amgen in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Amgen in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Amgen from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Redburn Partners lowered their price target on Amgen from $200.00 to $195.00 in a report on Wednesday, November 27th. Two 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 company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $314.09.

Amgen Trading Up 0.7 %

Amgen stock opened at $308.06 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $280.87 and a 200 day moving average price of $300.16. The company has a market capitalization of $165.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 0.56. Amgen Inc. has a 52 week low of $253.30 and a 52 week high of $346.85. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.62.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The medical research company reported $5.31 EPS 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%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Amgen Inc. will post 20.62 EPS for the current year.

Amgen Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be given a dividend of $2.38 per share. This is an increase from Amgen’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.25. This represents a $9.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.09%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 126.09%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Amgen news, EVP Jonathan P. Graham sold 25,045 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $293.12, for a total value of $7,341,190.40. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 28,987 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,496,669.44. This represents a 46.35 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP David M. Reese sold 8,711 shares of Amgen stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $293.22, for a total transaction of $2,554,239.42. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 62,147 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,222,743.34. This trade represents a 12.29 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 69,341 shares of company stock valued at $20,644,335. Company insiders own 0.69% of the company’s stock.

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.