B&D White Capital Company LLC Acquires Shares of 4,500 Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

B&D White Capital Company LLC bought a new position in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 4,500 shares of the medical research company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,173,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its stake in Amgen by 263.8% during 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 acquiring an additional 753,147 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its holdings in shares of Amgen by 40.7% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,338,665 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $609,526,000 after purchasing an additional 676,598 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its holdings in shares of Amgen by 11.7% in the 3rd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 5,143,330 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,657,183,000 after purchasing an additional 538,545 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its position in Amgen by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 29,317,018 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $9,446,236,000 after purchasing an additional 345,537 shares during the period. Finally, Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund boosted its position in Amgen by 573.3% during the 3rd quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 355,872 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $114,666,000 after purchasing an additional 303,016 shares during the period. 76.50% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Amgen Trading Up 1.7 %

Amgen stock opened at $303.01 on Monday. Amgen Inc. has a 1 year low of $253.30 and a 1 year high of $346.85. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $276.27 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $300.31. The firm has a market cap of $162.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.58 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.

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

Amgen Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be paid a dividend of $2.38 per share. 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. This represents a $9.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.14%. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio is currently 126.09%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Amgen

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have weighed in on AMGN. Redburn Partners dropped their target price on Amgen from $200.00 to $195.00 in a research report on Wednesday, November 27th. Leerink Partners cut their price objective on shares of Amgen from $349.00 to $302.00 in a research report on Wednesday, November 27th. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $380.00 target price on shares of Amgen in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $324.00 price target on shares of Amgen in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Piper Sandler Companies reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $310.00 price objective on shares of Amgen in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Amgen presently 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.