33,156 Shares in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) Bought by Fisher Funds Management LTD

Fisher Funds Management LTD bought a new position in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor bought 33,156 shares of the medical research company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,645,000.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in AMGN. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC raised its position in Amgen by 33,125.4% in the third 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 purchasing an additional 4,446,757 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its position in Amgen by 263.8% in the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,038,593 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $270,699,000 after purchasing an additional 753,147 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its position in Amgen by 40.7% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,338,665 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $609,526,000 after purchasing an additional 676,598 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its position in Amgen by 11.7% in the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 5,143,330 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,657,183,000 after purchasing an additional 538,545 shares during the period. Finally, State Street Corp raised its position in Amgen by 1.2% in the third 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 period. 76.50% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Amgen

In other news, SVP Nancy A. Grygiel sold 1,589 shares of Amgen 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 approximately $2,195,228.70. The trade was a 18.06 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Jonathan P. Graham sold 25,045 shares of Amgen 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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 28,987 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,496,669.44. This trade represents a 46.35 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 69,341 shares of company stock worth $20,644,335 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.69% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AMGN has been the topic of several research reports. Wells Fargo & Company reissued an “equal weight” rating on shares of Amgen in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Amgen in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Leerink Partners lowered their target price on Amgen from $349.00 to $302.00 in a research note on Wednesday, November 27th. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $380.00 target price on shares of Amgen in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Finally, Citigroup restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Amgen in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Amgen currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $314.09.

Amgen Stock Performance

Shares of AMGN stock opened at $303.01 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.62. The business has a 50 day moving average of $276.27 and a two-hundred day moving average of $300.40. Amgen Inc. has a 52 week low of $253.30 and a 52 week high of $346.85. The company has a market cap of $162.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.13, a PEG ratio of 2.58 and a beta of 0.56.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The medical research company reported $5.31 EPS for the quarter, beating 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%. As a group, analysts anticipate that Amgen Inc. will post 20.6 EPS for the current year.

Amgen Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be paid a $2.38 dividend. This is an increase from Amgen’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.25. This represents a $9.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.14%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. Amgen’s payout ratio is presently 126.09%.

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.