bLong Financial LLC Acquires Shares of 2,950 Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

bLong Financial LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 2,950 shares of the medical research company’s stock, valued at approximately $769,000. Amgen comprises 0.6% of bLong Financial LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 29th largest position.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Capital Performance Advisors LLP purchased a new position in shares of Amgen during the 3rd quarter valued at about $25,000. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC purchased a new position in shares of Amgen during the 3rd quarter valued at about $29,000. Heck Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Amgen during the 4th quarter valued at about $36,000. PrairieView Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Amgen by 118.3% during the 4th quarter. PrairieView Partners LLC now owns 179 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $46,000 after buying an additional 97 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wingate Wealth Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Amgen in the 4th quarter valued at about $52,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.50% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the company. Piper Sandler Companies restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $310.00 price target on shares of Amgen in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “buy” rating and issued a $380.00 price target on shares of Amgen in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. StockNews.com lowered Amgen from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. TD Cowen lifted their price target on Amgen from $381.00 to $383.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. 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 analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $314.09.

Amgen Trading Down 2.0 %

Shares of Amgen stock opened at $291.16 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $156.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.56, a P/E/G ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.56. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $274.12 and its 200-day simple moving average is $301.85. 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 0.96.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The medical research company reported $5.31 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 20.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Amgen Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. This is a boost from Amgen’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.25. This represents a $9.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.27%. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio is currently 119.21%.

Insider Activity at Amgen

In related news, SVP Nancy A. Grygiel sold 1,589 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 7,210 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,195,228.70. This represents a 18.06 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Murdo Gordon sold 8,771 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 11th. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at approximately $13,025,590.94. The trade was a 16.56 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 35,405 shares of company stock worth $10,410,596. Insiders own 0.69% of the company’s stock.

About Amgen

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.