American Century Companies Inc. Sells 121,667 Shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

American Century Companies Inc. reduced its stake in shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 46.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 141,041 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 121,667 shares during the quarter. American Century Companies Inc.’s holdings in Amgen were worth $36,761,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AMGN. Talbot Financial LLC increased its holdings in shares of Amgen by 5.6% during the fourth quarter. Talbot Financial LLC now owns 42,791 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $11,153,000 after buying an additional 2,274 shares in the last quarter. Asset Advisors Investment Management LLC grew its position in Amgen by 9.0% during the 3rd quarter. Asset Advisors Investment Management LLC now owns 35,934 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $11,578,000 after acquiring an additional 2,954 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in Amgen by 6.0% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 635,172 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $204,659,000 after purchasing an additional 35,785 shares in the last quarter. Ascent Wealth Partners LLC boosted its stake in Amgen by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Ascent Wealth Partners LLC now owns 9,024 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $2,352,000 after purchasing an additional 64 shares in the last quarter. Finally, ICICI Prudential Asset Management Co Ltd grew its holdings in shares of Amgen by 242.2% during the fourth quarter. ICICI Prudential Asset Management Co Ltd now owns 23,999 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $6,255,000 after purchasing an additional 16,985 shares during the last quarter. 76.50% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on AMGN shares. Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating on shares of Amgen in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. UBS Group reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Amgen in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Citigroup reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Amgen in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. StockNews.com downgraded Amgen from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $324.00 target price on shares of Amgen in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $314.04.

Amgen Stock Performance

Shares of AMGN stock opened at $305.77 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $164.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 0.53. Amgen Inc. has a 52 week low of $253.30 and a 52 week high of $346.85. 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’s 50 day moving average price is $300.39 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $298.51.

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

Amgen Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed 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. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 16th. This represents a $9.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.11%. Amgen’s payout ratio is presently 126.09%.

Insider Activity at Amgen

In related news, 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 completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 7,210 shares of the company’s stock, 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 document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP David M. Reese sold 25,225 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $304.44, for a total transaction 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. This trade represents a 40.59 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 69,341 shares of company stock valued at $20,644,335. 0.69% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.