Sherman Asset Management Inc. Invests $181,000 in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Sherman Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 695 shares of the medical research company’s stock, valued at approximately $181,000.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its position in shares of Amgen by 263.8% during the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,038,593 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $270,699,000 after purchasing an additional 753,147 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its position in shares of Amgen by 40.7% during the 4th 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 increased its position in shares of Amgen by 11.7% during the 3rd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 5,143,330 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,657,183,000 after purchasing an additional 538,545 shares during the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Amgen by 35,087.4% during the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 470,808 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $122,711,000 after purchasing an additional 469,470 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp increased its position in shares of 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 last quarter. 76.50% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Amgen Trading Up 0.7 %

Shares of NASDAQ AMGN opened at $308.06 on Friday. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $165.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 0.56. Amgen Inc. has a 1-year low of $253.30 and a 1-year high of $346.85. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $280.87 and a 200 day moving average price of $299.99.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The medical research company reported $5.31 earnings per share 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%. Equities research analysts expect that Amgen Inc. will post 20.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Amgen Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th will be paid a dividend of $2.38 per share. This is a boost from Amgen’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.25. This represents a $9.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.09%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio is 126.09%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Amgen news, SVP Nancy A. Grygiel sold 1,589 shares of the 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 sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 7,210 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,195,228.70. This trade represents a 18.06 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction 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 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 36,922 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,240,533.68. This trade represents a 40.59 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 69,341 shares of company stock worth $20,644,335 in the last three months. 0.69% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on AMGN shares. StockNews.com downgraded Amgen from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Wells Fargo & Company reissued an “equal weight” rating on shares of Amgen in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Amgen in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Leerink Partners cut their price objective on Amgen from $349.00 to $302.00 in a research report on Wednesday, November 27th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their price objective on Amgen from $305.00 to $285.00 in a research report on Wednesday, November 27th. Two equities research 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’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Amgen presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $314.09.

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.