Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) Shares Sold by Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund reduced its stake in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 21.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 18,259 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 4,974 shares during the period. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund’s holdings in Amgen were worth $4,759,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AMGN. AMF Tjanstepension AB boosted its holdings in Amgen by 16.9% in the 3rd quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 120,389 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $38,825,000 after acquiring an additional 17,387 shares during the period. Swedbank AB lifted its position in shares of Amgen by 1.1% during the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 538,899 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $173,639,000 after purchasing an additional 5,751 shares in the last quarter. Autumn Glory Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Amgen by 23.5% in the third quarter. Autumn Glory Partners LLC now owns 798 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $268,000 after purchasing an additional 152 shares during the period. Strategic Blueprint LLC grew its holdings in Amgen by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. Strategic Blueprint LLC now owns 6,051 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,950,000 after purchasing an additional 71 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fidelis Capital Partners LLC increased its stake in Amgen by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC now owns 4,449 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,401,000 after buying an additional 90 shares during the period. 76.50% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have weighed in on AMGN. Leerink Partners decreased their price objective on shares of Amgen from $349.00 to $302.00 in a research report on Wednesday, November 27th. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on Amgen in a report on Friday, November 15th. They issued a “peer perform” rating for the company. Citigroup restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Amgen in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Bank of America upped their target price on Amgen from $256.00 to $275.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Amgen from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $314.09.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Amgen news, EVP Jonathan P. Graham sold 25,045 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the executive vice president now owns 28,987 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,496,669.44. The trade was a 46.35 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP David M. Reese sold 25,225 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 36,922 shares in the company, valued at $11,240,533.68. This trade represents a 40.59 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 69,341 shares of company stock valued at $20,644,335 in the last three months. 0.69% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Amgen Stock Performance

AMGN stock opened at $306.38 on Thursday. Amgen Inc. has a 1 year low of $253.30 and a 1 year high of $346.85. The stock has a market capitalization of $164.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.58, a PEG ratio of 2.63 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. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $279.08 and its two-hundred day moving average is $300.20.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The medical research company reported $5.31 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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%. On average, research analysts predict that Amgen Inc. will post 20.62 EPS for the current year.

Amgen Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed 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 is an increase from Amgen’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.25. This represents a $9.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.11%. Amgen’s payout ratio is currently 126.09%.

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.