Appleton Partners Inc. MA Cuts Stake in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Appleton Partners Inc. MA lessened its position in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 5.6% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 18,467 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 1,105 shares during the period. Appleton Partners Inc. MA’s holdings in Amgen were worth $4,813,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. State Street Corp boosted its stake in Amgen by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 29,317,018 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $9,446,236,000 after purchasing an additional 345,537 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Amgen by 0.9% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 12,122,889 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $3,893,771,000 after buying an additional 103,851 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in Amgen by 2.4% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 10,532,629 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $3,393,718,000 after buying an additional 251,876 shares in the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its position in Amgen by 11.7% in the 3rd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 5,143,330 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,657,183,000 after buying an additional 538,545 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Pathway Financial Advisers LLC lifted its stake in Amgen by 33,125.4% during the 3rd quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 4,460,181 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,437,115,000 after acquiring an additional 4,446,757 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.50% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AMGN has been the subject of several research reports. Piper Sandler Companies reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $310.00 price objective on shares of Amgen in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on Amgen from $335.00 to $280.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 10th. Truist Financial lowered their target price on Amgen from $333.00 to $298.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their price target on Amgen from $305.00 to $285.00 in a research note on Wednesday, November 27th. Finally, Leerink Partners dropped their price objective on shares of Amgen from $349.00 to $302.00 in a report on Wednesday, November 27th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Amgen has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $313.23.

Amgen Trading Down 1.4 %

AMGN stock opened at $293.54 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $272.04 and a 200 day moving average price of $303.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.55, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a current ratio of 1.32. The firm has a market cap of $157.79 billion, a PE ratio of 37.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 0.56. Amgen Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $253.30 and a fifty-two week high of $346.85.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The medical research company reported $5.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.04 by $0.27. Amgen had a return on equity of 168.35% and a net margin of 13.00%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Amgen Inc. will post 19.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Amgen Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th will be issued a dividend of $2.38 per share. This represents a $9.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.24%. This is an increase from Amgen’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.25. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio is presently 115.24%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Nancy A. Grygiel sold 1,589 shares of the company’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 transaction, the senior vice president now owns 7,210 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,195,228.70. This represents a 18.06 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 0.69% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.