Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. Sells 218 Shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. trimmed its position in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 0.8% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 25,492 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 218 shares during the quarter. Johnson Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in Amgen were worth $6,644,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Unionview LLC boosted its holdings in shares of 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 during the period. Semus Wealth Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Amgen by 2.3% during the third quarter. Semus Wealth Partners LLC now owns 1,531 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $493,000 after purchasing an additional 35 shares during the period. Connable Office Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Amgen by 0.5% during the third quarter. Connable Office Inc. now owns 6,972 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $2,246,000 after purchasing an additional 37 shares during the period. Blossom Wealth Management boosted its holdings in shares of Amgen by 3.5% during the fourth quarter. Blossom Wealth Management now owns 1,090 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $284,000 after purchasing an additional 37 shares during the period. Finally, Zullo Investment Group Inc. raised its stake in Amgen by 2.8% in the fourth quarter. Zullo Investment Group Inc. now owns 1,364 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $356,000 after buying an additional 37 shares in the last quarter. 76.50% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Amgen

In other news, SVP Nancy A. Grygiel sold 1,589 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $304.47, for a total transaction of $483,802.83. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 7,210 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,195,228.70. The trade was a 18.06 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Murdo Gordon sold 8,771 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $294.79, for a total transaction of $2,585,603.09. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 44,186 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,025,590.94. The trade was a 16.56 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 69,341 shares of company stock worth $20,644,335. Insiders own 0.69% of the company’s stock.

Amgen Price Performance

Shares of AMGN opened at $327.36 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $175.86 billion, a PE ratio of 43.36, a P/E/G ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 0.53. The company has a current ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.62. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $287.50 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $299.50. Amgen Inc. has a 1-year low of $253.30 and a 1-year high of $346.85.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The medical research company reported $5.31 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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%. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Amgen Inc. will post 20.62 EPS for the current year.

Amgen Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 16th will be paid a dividend of $2.38 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 16th. This represents a $9.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.91%. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio is presently 126.09%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently issued reports on AMGN. Johnson Rice set a $294.00 price target on shares of Amgen in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Truist Financial decreased their price target on shares of Amgen from $333.00 to $298.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Citigroup reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Amgen in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $324.00 price target on shares of Amgen in a research note on Friday, January 24th. 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 given a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $314.04.

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.