Avantax Advisory Services Inc. Acquires 2,562 Shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Avantax Advisory Services Inc. raised its holdings in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 3.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 86,974 shares of the medical research company’s stock after buying an additional 2,562 shares during the quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc.’s holdings in Amgen were worth $22,669,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Talbot Financial LLC grew its position in shares of Amgen by 5.6% in the 4th quarter. Talbot Financial LLC now owns 42,791 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $11,153,000 after buying an additional 2,274 shares during the last quarter. Swiss National Bank boosted its position in shares of Amgen by 0.3% during the third 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 in the last quarter. Asset Advisors Investment Management LLC boosted its position 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 valued at $11,578,000 after purchasing an additional 2,954 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Amgen by 6.0% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 635,172 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $204,659,000 after acquiring an additional 35,785 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ascent Wealth Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Amgen by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Ascent Wealth Partners LLC now owns 9,024 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $2,352,000 after acquiring an additional 64 shares in the last quarter. 76.50% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have commented on AMGN shares. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $380.00 target price on shares of Amgen in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. StockNews.com downgraded Amgen from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Bank of America upped their price target on Amgen from $275.00 to $294.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Redburn Partners lowered their price target on Amgen from $200.00 to $195.00 in a report on Wednesday, November 27th. Finally, Piper Sandler Companies reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $310.00 price target on shares of Amgen in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. 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 assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Amgen has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $314.04.

Amgen Stock Down 2.6 %

Shares of AMGN stock opened at $318.89 on Wednesday. Amgen Inc. has a 1-year low of $253.30 and a 1-year high of $346.85. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $288.66 and its 200 day moving average price is $299.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.62, a current ratio of 1.26 and a quick ratio of 0.95. The company has a market cap of $171.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 0.53.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last announced its 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%. On average, research analysts expect that Amgen Inc. will post 20.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Amgen Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 16th will be given a dividend of $2.38 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 16th. This represents a $9.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.99%. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio is currently 126.09%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Nancy A. Grygiel sold 1,589 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 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 sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP David M. Reese sold 8,711 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $293.22, for a total value of $2,554,239.42. Following the completion of 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 69,341 shares of company stock valued at $20,644,335. 0.69% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.