Wedbush Securities Inc. Purchases 1,557 Shares of Amgen Inc. $AMGN

Wedbush Securities Inc. grew its holdings in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 5.8% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 28,463 shares of the medical research company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,557 shares during the period. Wedbush Securities Inc.’s holdings in Amgen were worth $8,032,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Brighton Jones LLC grew its position in Amgen by 23.5% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 27,468 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $7,159,000 after buying an additional 5,226 shares during the period. Sivia Capital Partners LLC increased its stake in Amgen by 10.6% in the 2nd quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,186 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $331,000 after buying an additional 114 shares in the last quarter. Matrix Asset Advisors Inc. NY raised its stake in Amgen by 4.4% during the 2nd quarter. Matrix Asset Advisors Inc. NY now owns 101,598 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $28,367,000 after purchasing an additional 4,284 shares during the period. RFG Advisory LLC grew its stake in Amgen by 9.4% during the second quarter. RFG Advisory LLC now owns 12,176 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $3,400,000 after acquiring an additional 1,047 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Equitable Trust Co. grew its stake in Amgen by 3.1% during the second quarter. Equitable Trust Co. now owns 4,991 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,394,000 after acquiring an additional 150 shares in the last quarter. 76.50% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Amgen news, SVP Nancy A. Grygiel sold 3,139 shares of the business’s 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 $2,436,703.50. The trade was a 30.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.76% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Amgen Trading Up 0.5%

Shares of NASDAQ AMGN opened at $366.58 on Thursday. Amgen Inc. has a 1-year low of $261.43 and a 1-year high of $385.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.78, a current ratio of 1.14 and a quick ratio of 0.90. The business’s 50 day moving average is $336.16 and its two-hundred day moving average is $312.77. The stock has a market capitalization of $197.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.76, a PEG ratio of 3.73 and a beta of 0.46.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 3rd. The medical research company reported $5.29 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.76 by $0.53. The business had revenue of $9.87 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.46 billion. Amgen had a return on equity of 148.37% and a net margin of 20.98%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $5.31 EPS. Amgen has set its FY 2026 guidance at 21.600-23.000 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect 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. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 13th will be paid a dividend of $2.52 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 13th. This is a positive change from Amgen’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.38. This represents a $10.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.7%. Amgen’s payout ratio is presently 66.90%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have commented on AMGN. Oppenheimer set a $400.00 price target on shares of Amgen and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. DZ Bank boosted their target price on Amgen from $335.00 to $364.00 in a research report on Monday, November 10th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Amgen from $300.00 to $325.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 10th. Erste Group Bank raised Amgen from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 5th. Finally, Guggenheim increased their target price on Amgen from $305.00 to $347.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, February 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $354.04.

About Amgen

Amgen Inc (NASDAQ: AMGN) is a global biotechnology company founded in 1980 and headquartered in Thousand Oaks, California. The company focuses on discovering, developing, manufacturing and delivering human therapeutics that address serious illnesses. Amgen’s work centers on biologic medicines derived from cellular and molecular biology, with an emphasis on translating advances in human genetics and protein science into therapies for patients.

Amgen’s commercial portfolio has historically included biologics used in oncology, supportive care, nephrology, bone health and cardiovascular disease.