Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA Invests $694,000 in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA acquired a new position in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 2,647 shares of the medical research company’s stock, valued at approximately $694,000.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Capital Performance Advisors LLP bought a new position in shares of Amgen in the third quarter worth approximately $25,000. Centricity Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Amgen in the fourth quarter worth approximately $25,000. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC bought a new position in shares of Amgen in the third quarter worth approximately $29,000. Heck Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Amgen in the fourth quarter worth approximately $36,000. Finally, PrairieView Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Amgen by 118.3% in the fourth quarter. PrairieView Partners LLC now owns 179 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $46,000 after purchasing an additional 97 shares during the last quarter. 76.50% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Amgen Stock Performance

Shares of AMGN stock opened at $309.72 on Tuesday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $277.14 and a 200 day moving average of $300.20. Amgen Inc. has a 52 week low of $253.30 and a 52 week high of $346.85. The firm has a market capitalization of $166.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.02, a PEG ratio of 2.58 and a beta of 0.56. 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 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%. As a group, research analysts expect that Amgen Inc. will post 20.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Amgen Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th will be paid a $2.38 dividend. This is a positive change from Amgen’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.25. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $9.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.07%. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 126.09%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently weighed in on AMGN. Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of Amgen from $256.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. UBS Group restated a “hold” rating on shares of Amgen in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Wolfe Research began coverage on shares of Amgen in a research report on Friday, November 15th. They set a “peer perform” rating on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $324.00 price target on shares of Amgen in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, William Blair reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Amgen in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Two 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 company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $314.09.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Amgen news, EVP David M. Reese sold 8,711 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $293.22, for a total transaction of $2,554,239.42. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now 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 sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Nancy A. Grygiel sold 1,589 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $304.47, for a total value of $483,802.83. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 7,210 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,195,228.70. This represents a 18.06 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 69,341 shares of company stock valued at $20,644,335 over the last quarter. 0.69% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Amgen 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.