Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) Shares Purchased by Empowered Funds LLC

Empowered Funds LLC increased its holdings in shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 39.9% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 89,086 shares of the medical research company’s stock after buying an additional 25,389 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC’s holdings in Amgen were worth $23,219,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of AMGN. Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new stake in Amgen in the third quarter valued at $25,000. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC acquired a new stake in Amgen in the third quarter valued at $29,000. Heck Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Amgen in the fourth quarter valued at $36,000. Livelsberger Financial Advisory acquired a new stake in Amgen in the third quarter valued at $56,000. Finally, Icon Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Amgen by 3,955.0% in the third quarter. Icon Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 174,040 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $56,000 after purchasing an additional 169,748 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.50% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have weighed in on AMGN shares. Piper Sandler Companies reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $310.00 target price on shares of Amgen in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $324.00 price objective on shares of Amgen in a research report on Friday, January 24th. TD Cowen upped their price objective on Amgen from $381.00 to $383.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price objective on Amgen from $305.00 to $285.00 in a research report on Wednesday, November 27th. Finally, UBS Group reduced their price objective on Amgen from $335.00 to $326.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $313.23.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Amgen news, SVP Nancy A. Grygiel sold 1,589 shares of the 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 $2,195,228.70. This trade represents a 18.06 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.69% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Amgen Stock Performance

Amgen stock opened at $293.54 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $272.26 and its 200-day moving average is $303.21. The company has a market cap of $157.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.62, a current ratio of 1.26 and a quick ratio of 0.96. Amgen Inc. has a 12 month low of $253.30 and a 12 month high of $346.85.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The medical research company reported $5.31 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.04 by $0.27. Amgen had a return on equity of 176.32% and a net margin of 12.24%. Equities analysts anticipate that Amgen Inc. will post 20.59 earnings per share for the current year.

Amgen Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be issued a dividend of $2.38 per share. This represents a $9.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.24%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. This is an increase from Amgen’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.25. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 119.21%.

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.