Dividend Assets Capital LLC Boosts Stock Position in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Dividend Assets Capital LLC raised its stake in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 4.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 32,118 shares of the medical research company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,473 shares during the quarter. Amgen accounts for 1.6% of Dividend Assets Capital LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 24th biggest holding. Dividend Assets Capital LLC’s holdings in Amgen were worth $8,371,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of AMGN. Greystone Financial Group LLC raised its holdings in Amgen by 25.6% during the fourth quarter. Greystone Financial Group LLC now owns 24,393 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $6,358,000 after purchasing an additional 4,979 shares in the last quarter. Peregrine Asset Advisers Inc. increased its position in Amgen by 4.4% during the 4th quarter. Peregrine Asset Advisers Inc. now owns 4,700 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,225,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the period. Dahring Cusmano LLC purchased a new position in shares of Amgen during the 4th quarter worth approximately $861,000. Blackston Financial Advisory Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Amgen by 13.0% in the 4th quarter. Blackston Financial Advisory Group LLC now owns 1,058 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $276,000 after buying an additional 122 shares during the period. Finally, VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Amgen by 10.8% in the 4th quarter. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC now owns 5,558 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,441,000 after buying an additional 542 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.50% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Amgen news, EVP Jonathan P. Graham sold 25,045 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $293.12, for a total transaction of $7,341,190.40. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 28,987 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,496,669.44. The trade was a 46.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Nancy A. Grygiel sold 1,589 shares of the firm’s 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 transaction, the senior vice president now 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 69,341 shares of company stock valued at $20,644,335. Insiders own 0.69% of the company’s stock.

Amgen Stock Up 1.7 %

AMGN stock opened at $303.01 on Friday. Amgen Inc. has a one year low of $253.30 and a one year high of $346.85. The stock has a market capitalization of $162.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.13, a PEG ratio of 2.55 and a beta of 0.56. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $276.27 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $300.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.62, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 1.26.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last released its 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 return on equity of 176.32% and a net margin of 12.24%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Amgen Inc. will post 20.6 EPS for the current year.

Amgen Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th will be issued a $2.38 dividend. This represents a $9.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.14%. This is an increase from Amgen’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.25. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. Amgen’s payout ratio is presently 126.09%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have issued reports on the company. Redburn Partners cut their price objective on Amgen from $200.00 to $195.00 in a research report on Wednesday, November 27th. Wolfe Research started coverage on shares of Amgen in a report on Friday, November 15th. They issued a “peer perform” rating for the company. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $324.00 price objective on shares of Amgen in a report on Friday, January 24th. UBS Group lowered their target price on shares of Amgen from $335.00 to $326.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Citigroup reduced their price target on shares of Amgen from $310.00 to $295.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price 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.