Paragon Private Wealth Management LLC Boosts Stock Holdings in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Paragon Private Wealth Management LLC grew its position in shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 4.3% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 2,584 shares of the medical research company’s stock after purchasing an additional 106 shares during the period. Paragon Private Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Amgen were worth $673,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in AMGN. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Amgen by 25.4% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 13,205,604 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $3,441,909,000 after buying an additional 2,672,975 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in Amgen in the fourth quarter worth approximately $401,913,000. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its holdings in Amgen by 263.8% in 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 purchasing an additional 753,147 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its holdings in Amgen by 40.7% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,338,665 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $609,526,000 after purchasing an additional 676,598 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its holdings in Amgen by 11.7% in the third 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. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.50% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Amgen

In other news, EVP David M. Reese sold 25,225 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Jonathan P. Graham sold 25,045 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $293.12, for a total transaction of $7,341,190.40. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 28,987 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,496,669.44. This trade represents a 46.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 69,341 shares of company stock worth $20,644,335 in the last three months. Insiders own 0.69% of the company’s stock.

Amgen Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ AMGN opened at $324.86 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.62, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 1.26. The company has a market cap of $174.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 43.03, a P/E/G ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 0.53. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $286.14 and its two-hundred day moving average is $299.48. Amgen Inc. has a 52-week low of $253.30 and a 52-week high of $346.85.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The medical research company reported $5.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.04 by $0.27. Amgen had a net margin of 12.24% and a return on equity of 176.32%. As a group, analysts anticipate that Amgen Inc. will post 20.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Amgen Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 16th will be issued a $2.38 dividend. 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 2.93%. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio is currently 126.09%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on AMGN shares. StockNews.com cut shares of Amgen from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Wolfe Research started coverage on shares of Amgen in a report on Friday, November 15th. They issued a “peer perform” rating on the stock. Piper Sandler Companies restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $310.00 target price on shares of Amgen in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of Amgen from $275.00 to $294.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their price target on shares of Amgen from $305.00 to $285.00 in a research note on Wednesday, November 27th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Amgen has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $314.95.

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.