Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. Trims Stock Position in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. decreased its position in shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 0.4% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 26,213 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 110 shares during the quarter. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc.’s holdings in Amgen were worth $7,453,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Sherbrooke Park Advisers LLC acquired a new position in Amgen in the 3rd quarter valued at $411,000. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Amgen during the third quarter worth about $17,072,000. Lazard Asset Management LLC lifted its position in Amgen by 114.5% in the third quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 36,595 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $9,833,000 after purchasing an additional 19,532 shares during the period. Insigneo Advisory Services LLC boosted its holdings in Amgen by 5.9% in the 3rd quarter. Insigneo Advisory Services LLC now owns 2,618 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $704,000 after purchasing an additional 145 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Axxcess Wealth Management LLC increased its position in Amgen by 33.2% during the 3rd quarter. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC now owns 13,844 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $3,721,000 after purchasing an additional 3,454 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.50% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Amgen

In related news, SVP Nancy A. Grygiel sold 2,117 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $313.09, for a total value of $662,811.53. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 9,883 shares in the company, valued at $3,094,268.47. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.69% of the company’s stock.

Amgen Trading Down 0.2 %

AMGN stock traded down $0.75 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $310.26. The stock had a trading volume of 481,239 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,764,641. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $301.56 and its 200 day moving average price is $292.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 11.96, a current ratio of 1.42 and a quick ratio of 0.98. The firm has a market cap of $166.43 billion, a PE ratio of 44.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.58. Amgen Inc. has a 12-month low of $218.44 and a 12-month high of $329.72.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 2nd. The medical research company reported $3.96 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.76 by $0.20. Amgen had a return on equity of 156.21% and a net margin of 12.74%. The business had revenue of $7.45 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.45 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $3.98 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts predict that Amgen Inc. will post 19.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently commented on AMGN. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on Amgen from $328.00 to $332.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, June 14th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Amgen from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. Mizuho increased their price target on shares of Amgen from $223.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, May 9th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Amgen from $284.00 to $307.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, May 3rd. Finally, TD Cowen reduced their price target on shares of Amgen from $370.00 to $360.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 17th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $307.35.

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.