Ashton Thomas Securities LLC Buys 50 Shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Ashton Thomas Securities LLC raised its stake in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 6.6% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 810 shares of the medical research company’s stock after buying an additional 50 shares during the period. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC’s holdings in Amgen were worth $206,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Modern Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of Amgen by 171.5% in the 4th quarter. Modern Wealth Management LLC now owns 4,645 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,211,000 after acquiring an additional 2,934 shares during the period. EntryPoint Capital LLC bought a new stake in Amgen in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $804,000. Dudley Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Amgen by 15.4% in the fourth quarter. Dudley Capital Management LLC now owns 1,085 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $283,000 after purchasing an additional 145 shares during the period. CoreFirst Bank & Trust bought a new position in shares of Amgen during the fourth quarter worth $585,000. Finally, ICW Investment Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Amgen by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. ICW Investment Advisors LLC now owns 8,593 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $2,240,000 after buying an additional 110 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.50% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AMGN has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Johnson Rice set a $294.00 target price on Amgen in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Leerink Partners decreased their price objective on Amgen from $349.00 to $302.00 in a research report on Wednesday, November 27th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their target price on shares of Amgen from $305.00 to $285.00 in a report on Wednesday, November 27th. Wells Fargo & Company reiterated an “equal weight” rating on shares of Amgen in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Piper Sandler Companies reissued 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 assigned a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Amgen currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $314.04.

Amgen Trading Down 2.4 %

NASDAQ AMGN opened at $306.86 on Wednesday. Amgen Inc. has a 12 month low of $253.30 and a 12 month high of $346.85. The company has a current ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.62. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $298.92 and a 200-day moving average of $298.41. The company has a market cap of $164.85 billion, a PE ratio of 40.64, a PEG ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 0.53.

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

Amgen Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Investors of record on Friday, May 16th will be issued a dividend of $2.38 per share. This represents a $9.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.10%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 16th. Amgen’s payout ratio is currently 126.09%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Amgen news, EVP Murdo Gordon sold 8,771 shares of Amgen stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $294.79, for a total transaction of $2,585,603.09. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 44,186 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,025,590.94. The trade was a 16.56 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Nancy A. Grygiel sold 1,589 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $304.47, for a total transaction of $483,802.83. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 7,210 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,195,228.70. This represents a 18.06 % 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 valued at $20,644,335 over the last 90 days. 0.69% of the stock is currently owned by 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.