First Merchants Corp Sells 1,450 Shares of Amgen Inc. $AMGN

First Merchants Corp cut its holdings in shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 12.2% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 10,434 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 1,450 shares during the period. First Merchants Corp’s holdings in Amgen were worth $2,913,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AMGN. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in shares of Amgen during the first quarter worth $688,868,000. Federated Hermes Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Amgen by 48.5% during the first quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 2,037,169 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $634,680,000 after buying an additional 665,555 shares in the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its holdings in shares of Amgen by 128.9% during the first quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 1,065,694 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $332,017,000 after buying an additional 600,096 shares in the last quarter. WoodTrust Financial Corp increased its holdings in shares of Amgen by 8,223.6% during the second quarter. WoodTrust Financial Corp now owns 595,634 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $166,307,000 after buying an additional 588,478 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC acquired a new position in shares of Amgen during the second quarter worth $156,812,000. 76.50% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Amgen

In other Amgen news, SVP Nancy A. Grygiel sold 1,267 shares of Amgen stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $296.99, for a total transaction of $376,286.33. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 7,209 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,141,000.91. This trade represents a 14.95% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.76% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Amgen Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ AMGN opened at $294.62 on Thursday. Amgen Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $253.30 and a fifty-two week high of $335.88. The stock has a market cap of $158.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.09, a PEG ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 0.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.24, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a current ratio of 1.31. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $286.90 and its 200 day simple moving average is $287.93.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The medical research company reported $6.02 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.28 by $0.74. Amgen had a net margin of 18.96% and a return on equity of 174.71%. The firm had revenue of $9.18 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.86 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $4.97 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 9.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Amgen has set its FY 2025 guidance at 20.200-21.300 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Amgen Inc. will post 20.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Amgen Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 12th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 22nd were given a dividend of $2.38 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 22nd. This represents a $9.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.2%. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 77.84%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. William Blair reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Amgen in a report on Tuesday, June 24th. Bank of America upped their price target on shares of Amgen from $261.00 to $272.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a report on Friday, September 26th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Amgen from $330.00 to $333.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 6th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Amgen from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 3rd. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded Amgen from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Wednesday. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Amgen has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $309.42.

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.