Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd Grows Stock Holdings in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd grew its holdings in shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 470.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 15,809 shares of the medical research company’s stock after buying an additional 13,038 shares during the quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd’s holdings in Amgen were worth $4,120,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new position in shares of Amgen during the third quarter worth $25,000. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC acquired a new position in shares of Amgen during the third quarter worth $29,000. Centricity Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Amgen during the fourth quarter worth $25,000. Heck Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Amgen during the fourth quarter worth $36,000. Finally, Kennebec Savings Bank acquired a new position in shares of Amgen during the third quarter worth $57,000. 76.50% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Amgen

In related news, EVP David M. Reese sold 25,225 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $304.44, for a total value of $7,679,499.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 36,922 shares in the company, valued at $11,240,533.68. This represents a 40.59 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Jonathan P. Graham sold 25,045 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $293.12, for a total transaction of $7,341,190.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 28,987 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,496,669.44. This represents a 46.35 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 69,341 shares of company stock worth $20,644,335 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.69% of the company’s stock.

Amgen Stock Up 1.7 %

Amgen stock opened at $303.01 on Monday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $276.27 and a 200-day simple moving average of $300.31. The firm has a market capitalization of $162.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.13, a P/E/G ratio of 2.58 and a beta of 0.56. 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 Inc. has a one year low of $253.30 and a one year high of $346.85.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The medical research company reported $5.31 EPS for the quarter, topping 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%. As a group, equities analysts expect that Amgen Inc. will post 20.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Amgen Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be given a dividend of $2.38 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $9.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.14%. This is a positive change from Amgen’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.25. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio is currently 126.09%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently commented on AMGN. Wells Fargo & Company reissued an “equal weight” rating on shares of Amgen in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $380.00 price target on shares of Amgen in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Amgen in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Truist Financial cut their price target on shares of Amgen from $333.00 to $298.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, Bank of America upped their price target on shares of Amgen from $256.00 to $275.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Amgen has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus 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.