Sovran Advisors LLC Takes Position in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Sovran Advisors LLC bought a new position in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm bought 4,273 shares of the medical research company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,141,000.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. AMF Tjanstepension AB grew its holdings in shares of Amgen by 16.9% in the third quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 120,389 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $38,825,000 after purchasing an additional 17,387 shares during the last quarter. Redhawk Wealth Advisors Inc. grew its stake in Amgen by 3.9% in the 3rd quarter. Redhawk Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 2,569 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $828,000 after acquiring an additional 96 shares in the last quarter. MEAG MUNICH ERGO Kapitalanlagegesellschaft mbH purchased a new position in shares of Amgen during the third quarter worth approximately $234,000. Paladin Wealth LLC bought a new stake in shares of Amgen during the third quarter valued at approximately $142,000. Finally, CX Institutional boosted its holdings in shares of Amgen by 319.8% in the third quarter. CX Institutional now owns 40,355 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $13,003,000 after purchasing an additional 30,741 shares during the period. 76.50% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have commented on AMGN shares. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and set a $405.00 price objective on shares of Amgen in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Piper Sandler raised their price target on Amgen from $310.00 to $329.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $380.00 target price on shares of Amgen in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. William Blair restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Amgen in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Finally, Truist Financial dropped their price objective on shares of Amgen from $333.00 to $298.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $314.09.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Jonathan P. Graham sold 25,045 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $293.12, for a total value of $7,341,190.40. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 28,987 shares in the company, valued at $8,496,669.44. This represents a 46.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Nancy A. Grygiel sold 1,589 shares of Amgen stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the senior vice president now owns 7,210 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,195,228.70. This represents a 18.06 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.69% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Amgen Trading Up 0.6 %

NASDAQ:AMGN opened at $296.66 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.62. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $272.59 and a 200-day simple moving average of $302.50. Amgen Inc. has a 12 month low of $253.30 and a 12 month high of $346.85. The company has a market capitalization of $159.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.29, a PEG ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.56.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The medical research company reported $5.31 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.04 by $0.27. Amgen had a return on equity of 176.32% and a net margin of 12.24%. On average, equities research analysts anticipate 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. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th will be issued a $2.38 dividend. This represents a $9.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.21%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. This is an increase from Amgen’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.25. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio is 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.