Bahl & Gaynor Inc. Cuts Stock Holdings in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Bahl & Gaynor Inc. cut its position in shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 25.5% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 308,715 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 105,555 shares during the quarter. Bahl & Gaynor Inc.’s holdings in Amgen were worth $80,463,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AMGN. Lansing Street Advisors boosted its stake in shares of Amgen by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. Lansing Street Advisors now owns 2,582 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $832,000 after acquiring an additional 32 shares in the last quarter. Unionview LLC boosted its position in Amgen by 3.8% during the third quarter. Unionview LLC now owns 876 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $282,000 after purchasing an additional 32 shares in the last quarter. Avidian Wealth Enterprises LLC grew its holdings in Amgen by 0.6% in the third quarter. Avidian Wealth Enterprises LLC now owns 5,863 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,889,000 after purchasing an additional 33 shares during the period. Beacon Financial Advisory LLC increased its position in shares of Amgen by 4.6% in the third quarter. Beacon Financial Advisory LLC now owns 769 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $248,000 after buying an additional 34 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Semus Wealth Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Amgen by 2.3% during the 3rd quarter. Semus Wealth Partners LLC now owns 1,531 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $493,000 after buying an additional 35 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.50% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Amgen

In other Amgen news, EVP Jonathan P. Graham sold 25,045 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $293.12, for a total value of $7,341,190.40. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 28,987 shares in the company, valued at $8,496,669.44. This represents a 46.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Nancy A. Grygiel sold 1,589 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $304.47, for a total transaction of $483,802.83. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 7,210 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,195,228.70. This represents a 18.06 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 69,341 shares of company stock valued at $20,644,335 over the last quarter. 0.69% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. UBS Group reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Amgen in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their price target on Amgen from $305.00 to $285.00 in a research note on Wednesday, November 27th. Piper Sandler Companies reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $310.00 price objective on shares of Amgen in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Leerink Partners dropped their target price on shares of Amgen from $349.00 to $302.00 in a report on Wednesday, November 27th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reissued an “equal weight” rating on shares of Amgen in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Amgen presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $314.09.

Amgen Trading Up 0.9 %

AMGN opened at $310.78 on Tuesday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $281.80 and a 200 day moving average price of $299.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.62, a current ratio of 1.26 and a quick ratio of 0.95. 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 $166.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.16, a PEG ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 0.56.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The medical research company reported $5.31 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.04 by $0.27. Amgen had a net margin of 12.24% and a return on equity of 176.32%. Sell-side analysts expect that Amgen Inc. will post 20.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Amgen Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th will be paid a dividend of $2.38 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $9.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.06%. This is an increase from Amgen’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.25. Amgen’s payout ratio is presently 126.09%.

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.