Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) Shares Sold by Empirical Finance LLC

Empirical Finance LLC decreased its holdings in shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 1.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 18,507 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 247 shares during the quarter. Empirical Finance LLC’s holdings in Amgen were worth $4,824,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. AMF Tjanstepension AB lifted its stake in Amgen by 16.9% in the third quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 120,389 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $38,825,000 after buying an additional 17,387 shares during the last quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt lifted its position in Amgen by 33.8% in the 3rd quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt now owns 47,318 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $15,240,000 after purchasing an additional 11,954 shares during the last quarter. Wynn Capital LLC boosted its stake in Amgen by 1.6% during the 3rd quarter. Wynn Capital LLC now owns 6,528 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $2,103,000 after purchasing an additional 103 shares during the period. FARMERS & MERCHANTS TRUST Co OF LONG BEACH grew its position in Amgen by 3.2% in the 3rd quarter. FARMERS & MERCHANTS TRUST Co OF LONG BEACH now owns 5,069 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,633,000 after purchasing an additional 159 shares during the last quarter. Finally, First Affirmative Financial Network grew its position in Amgen by 128.7% in the 3rd quarter. First Affirmative Financial Network now owns 3,176 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,023,000 after purchasing an additional 1,787 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.50% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AMGN has been the subject of several analyst reports. UBS Group reduced their price objective on Amgen from $335.00 to $326.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. William Blair reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Amgen in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Citigroup lowered their price target on Amgen from $310.00 to $295.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on shares of Amgen from $335.00 to $280.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their target price on shares of Amgen from $305.00 to $285.00 in a research note on Wednesday, November 27th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $313.23.

Insider Activity at Amgen

In related news, SVP Nancy A. Grygiel sold 1,589 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 7,210 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,195,228.70. The trade was a 18.06 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.69% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Amgen Price Performance

AMGN stock opened at $293.54 on Friday. Amgen Inc. has a one year low of $253.30 and a one year high of $346.85. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $272.26 and a two-hundred day moving average of $303.21. The firm has a market capitalization of $157.79 billion, a PE ratio of 38.88, a P/E/G ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.56. The company has a current ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.62.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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 forecast that Amgen Inc. will post 20.59 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. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be issued a dividend of $2.38 per share. This is an increase 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 dividend yield of 3.24%. Amgen’s payout ratio is currently 119.21%.

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.