Westwood Holdings Group Inc. Sells 2,733 Shares of Amgen Inc. $AMGN

Westwood Holdings Group Inc. trimmed its holdings in shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 17.5% during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 12,873 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 2,733 shares during the quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc.’s holdings in Amgen were worth $3,594,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of AMGN. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its stake in Amgen by 23.5% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 27,468 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $7,159,000 after acquiring an additional 5,226 shares during the period. Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Amgen in the first quarter worth approximately $319,000. Corient IA LLC purchased a new position in shares of Amgen during the first quarter valued at approximately $312,000. Cascade Financial Partners LLC lifted its position in Amgen by 11.3% during the first quarter. Cascade Financial Partners LLC now owns 966 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $301,000 after purchasing an additional 98 shares during the period. Finally, Brooklyn Investment Group boosted its holdings in Amgen by 55.6% in the first quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 4,965 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,547,000 after purchasing an additional 1,775 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.50% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on AMGN shares. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Amgen from $310.00 to $315.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 24th. Scotiabank began coverage on Amgen in a research report on Thursday, November 13th. They set a “sector outperform” rating and a $385.00 price objective for the company. Piper Sandler increased their target price on Amgen from $342.00 to $381.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, November 14th. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating on shares of Amgen in a research note on Tuesday, November 25th. Finally, Truist Financial assumed coverage on shares of Amgen in a research report on Monday, November 24th. They set a “hold” rating and a $318.00 price target for the company. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have issued a Buy rating, ten have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Amgen has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $332.85.

Insider Activity at Amgen

In related news, SVP Nancy A. Grygiel sold 3,139 shares of Amgen stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $337.26, for a total transaction of $1,058,659.14. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 7,225 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,436,703.50. The trade was a 30.29% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Murdo Gordon sold 6,879 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $336.83, for a total value of $2,317,053.57. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 41,923 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,120,924.09. The trade was a 14.10% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 10,908 shares of company stock worth $3,674,966. 0.69% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Amgen Stock Performance

NASDAQ:AMGN opened at $325.31 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.45, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a current ratio of 1.28. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $316.75 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $299.22. The firm has a market capitalization of $175.17 billion, a PE ratio of 25.14, a P/E/G ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 0.45. Amgen Inc. has a 52-week low of $253.30 and a 52-week high of $346.38.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, November 4th. The medical research company reported $5.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.01 by $0.63. Amgen had a net margin of 19.47% and a return on equity of 162.59%. The company had revenue of $9.56 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.98 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $5.58 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 12.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Amgen has set its FY 2025 guidance at 20.600-21.400 EPS. Analysts forecast that Amgen Inc. will post 20.62 EPS for the current year.

Amgen Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 6th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 13th will be given a dividend of $2.52 per share. This represents a $10.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.1%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 13th. This is a positive change from Amgen’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.38. Amgen’s payout ratio is 73.57%.

Amgen 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.