Owen LaRue LLC Raises Stock Holdings in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Owen LaRue LLC increased its position in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 12.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 3,008 shares of the medical research company’s stock after acquiring an additional 325 shares during the period. Owen LaRue LLC’s holdings in Amgen were worth $784,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Beck Mack & Oliver LLC raised its stake in Amgen by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Beck Mack & Oliver LLC now owns 4,623 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,205,000 after acquiring an additional 34 shares during the last quarter. Blossom Wealth Management raised its stake in shares of Amgen by 3.5% during the 4th quarter. Blossom Wealth Management now owns 1,090 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $284,000 after buying an additional 37 shares during the last quarter. Zullo Investment Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Amgen by 2.8% during the 4th quarter. Zullo Investment Group Inc. now owns 1,364 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $356,000 after buying an additional 37 shares during the last quarter. Trillium Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Amgen by 4.2% during the 4th quarter. Trillium Asset Management LLC now owns 911 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $237,000 after buying an additional 37 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Evermay Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Amgen by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Evermay Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,650 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $691,000 after buying an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.50% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Cantor Fitzgerald assumed coverage on Amgen in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. They set a “neutral” rating and a $305.00 price objective for the company. StockNews.com lowered Amgen from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Amgen from $328.00 to $330.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Amgen from $315.00 to $319.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $324.00 price target on shares of Amgen in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $310.57.

Amgen Trading Up 0.8 %

Shares of Amgen stock opened at $283.09 on Tuesday. Amgen Inc. has a 1-year low of $253.30 and a 1-year high of $346.85. 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 cap of $152.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.50, a P/E/G ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 0.59. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $301.29 and its 200-day simple moving average is $292.11.

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

Amgen Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 16th will be paid a $2.38 dividend. This represents a $9.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.36%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 16th. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 126.09%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Amgen news, EVP Murdo Gordon sold 8,771 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $294.79, for a total value of $2,585,603.09. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 44,186 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,025,590.94. This trade represents a 16.56 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Nancy A. Grygiel sold 1,589 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $2,195,228.70. This trade represents a 18.06 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 69,341 shares of company stock valued at $20,644,335 in the last three months. 0.69% of the stock is currently 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.