West Paces Advisors Inc. Sells 153 Shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

West Paces Advisors Inc. trimmed its holdings in shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 12.7% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,053 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 153 shares during the period. West Paces Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Amgen were worth $328,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AMGN. Centricity Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Amgen during the 4th quarter worth about $25,000. Pinney & Scofield Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Amgen during the fourth quarter valued at about $26,000. Ritter Daniher Financial Advisory LLC DE lifted its position in shares of Amgen by 66.2% during the fourth quarter. Ritter Daniher Financial Advisory LLC DE now owns 128 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $33,000 after buying an additional 51 shares during the last quarter. Synergy Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Amgen during the fourth quarter valued at about $34,000. Finally, Atala Financial Inc purchased a new stake in shares of Amgen during the fourth quarter valued at about $34,000. 76.50% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AMGN has been the subject of several analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price target on shares of Amgen from $324.00 to $320.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Mizuho increased their price target on shares of Amgen from $235.00 to $280.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 7th. Cantor Fitzgerald initiated coverage on shares of Amgen in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. They set a “neutral” rating and a $305.00 price target for the company. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Amgen from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Sunday, May 18th. Finally, Bank of America increased their price target on shares of Amgen from $275.00 to $294.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $309.22.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Rachna Khosla sold 1,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $289.68, for a total transaction of $434,520.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 8,162 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,364,368.16. This trade represents a 15.52% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 0.76% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Amgen Stock Performance

AMGN opened at $289.98 on Tuesday. Amgen Inc. has a 12-month low of $253.30 and a 12-month high of $346.85. The company has a current ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.62. The firm has a market capitalization of $155.92 billion, a PE ratio of 38.41, a P/E/G ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 0.51. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $281.26 and a two-hundred day moving average of $285.36.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The medical research company reported $4.90 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.18 by $0.72. Amgen had a net margin of 12.24% and a return on equity of 176.32%. The company had revenue of $8.15 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.05 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $3.96 EPS. Amgen’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts anticipate that Amgen Inc. will post 20.62 EPS for the current year.

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.