Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC Sells 21,974 Shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC cut its holdings in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 47.4% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 24,422 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 21,974 shares during the period. Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC’s holdings in Amgen were worth $7,609,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of AMGN. Integral Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new position in Amgen in the 1st quarter valued at $291,000. Sarasin & Partners LLP boosted its holdings in Amgen by 4.7% in the 1st quarter. Sarasin & Partners LLP now owns 557,540 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $173,702,000 after purchasing an additional 25,241 shares during the period. Moseley Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Amgen by 4.8% in the 1st quarter. Moseley Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,435 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $2,005,000 after purchasing an additional 296 shares during the period. Nepsis Inc. boosted its holdings in Amgen by 4.2% in the 1st quarter. Nepsis Inc. now owns 68,752 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $21,420,000 after purchasing an additional 2,780 shares during the period. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its holdings in Amgen by 348.5% in the 1st quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 47,798 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $14,891,000 after purchasing an additional 37,140 shares during the period. 76.50% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Amgen Price Performance

AMGN stock opened at $293.43 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $280.93 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $285.41. Amgen Inc. has a 12-month low of $253.30 and a 12-month high of $346.85. The stock has a market capitalization of $157.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.86, a PEG ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 0.51. The company has a current ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.62.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The medical research company reported $4.90 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 firm had revenue of $8.15 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.05 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $3.96 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts predict that Amgen Inc. will post 20.62 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have commented on AMGN. Johnson Rice set a $294.00 price target on shares of Amgen in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Morgan Stanley reissued an “equal weight” rating on shares of Amgen in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price target on shares of Amgen from $324.00 to $320.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Erste Group Bank downgraded shares of Amgen from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, May 8th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Amgen from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Sunday, May 18th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and two have 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 target price of $309.22.

Insider Buying and Selling at Amgen

In other Amgen news, SVP Rachna Khosla sold 1,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $289.68, for a total value of $434,520.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 8,162 shares in the company, valued at $2,364,368.16. This trade represents a 15.52% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 0.76% of the company’s stock.

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.