Asahi Life Asset Management CO. LTD. Reduces Stake in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Asahi Life Asset Management CO. LTD. lowered its holdings in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 4.2% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 10,981 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 477 shares during the period. Amgen accounts for about 1.7% of Asahi Life Asset Management CO. LTD.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 14th biggest holding. Asahi Life Asset Management CO. LTD.’s holdings in Amgen were worth $2,862,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Capital Performance Advisors LLP purchased a new position in shares of Amgen in the 3rd quarter valued at about $25,000. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Amgen in the 3rd quarter valued at about $29,000. Centricity Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Amgen in the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. Heck Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Amgen in the 4th quarter valued at about $36,000. Finally, Kennebec Savings Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Amgen in the 3rd quarter valued at about $57,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.50% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Amgen news, EVP David M. Reese sold 25,225 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $304.44, for a total transaction of $7,679,499.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 36,922 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,240,533.68. The trade was a 40.59 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Nancy A. Grygiel sold 1,589 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $304.47, for a total value of $483,802.83. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 7,210 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,195,228.70. This trade represents a 18.06 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 69,341 shares of company stock worth $20,644,335. 0.69% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AMGN has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Redburn Partners decreased their target price on Amgen from $200.00 to $195.00 in a research report on Wednesday, November 27th. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $380.00 target price on shares of Amgen in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Piper Sandler upped their target price on Amgen from $310.00 to $329.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $324.00 target price on shares of Amgen in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their price objective on Amgen from $305.00 to $285.00 in a research report on Wednesday, November 27th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $314.09.

Amgen Stock Up 0.7 %

AMGN opened at $308.06 on Friday. Amgen Inc. has a 12 month low of $253.30 and a 12 month high of $346.85. The stock has a market capitalization of $165.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.80, a P/E/G ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 0.56. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $280.87 and a 200-day simple moving average of $299.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.62, a current ratio of 1.26 and a quick ratio of 0.95.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last posted 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 return on equity of 176.32% and a net margin of 12.24%. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Amgen Inc. will post 20.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Amgen Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced 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 represents a $9.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.09%. This is an increase from Amgen’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.25. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. Amgen’s payout ratio is presently 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.