Choate Investment Advisors Sells 1,579 Shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Choate Investment Advisors trimmed its stake in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 9.0% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 15,990 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 1,579 shares during the quarter. Choate Investment Advisors’ holdings in Amgen were worth $4,168,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Diversified Enterprises LLC raised its stake in shares of Amgen by 12.4% in the fourth quarter. Diversified Enterprises LLC now owns 1,007 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $263,000 after purchasing an additional 111 shares during the last quarter. Clearstead Trust LLC raised its stake in shares of Amgen by 13.5% in the fourth quarter. Clearstead Trust LLC now owns 1,094 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $285,000 after purchasing an additional 130 shares during the last quarter. Greykasell Wealth Strategies Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Amgen in the fourth quarter worth $750,000. Buckley Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Amgen by 33.2% in the fourth quarter. Buckley Wealth Management LLC now owns 33,468 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $8,723,000 after purchasing an additional 8,333 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Greatmark Investment Partners Inc. raised its stake in shares of Amgen by 5.8% in the fourth quarter. Greatmark Investment Partners Inc. now owns 68,816 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $17,936,000 after purchasing an additional 3,743 shares during the last quarter. 76.50% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Amgen Trading Up 0.3 %

Shares of AMGN stock opened at $313.71 on Friday. Amgen Inc. has a 1 year low of $253.30 and a 1 year high of $346.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.62, a current ratio of 1.26 and a quick ratio of 0.95. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $291.82 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $299.33. The company has a market cap of $168.53 billion, a PE ratio of 41.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 0.53.

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

Amgen Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 16th will be issued a dividend of $2.38 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 16th. This represents a $9.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.03%. Amgen’s payout ratio is currently 126.09%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on AMGN shares. Wells Fargo & Company restated an “equal weight” rating on shares of Amgen in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. StockNews.com cut Amgen from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on Amgen from $310.00 to $329.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Johnson Rice set a $294.00 price objective on Amgen in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Finally, Piper Sandler Companies reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $310.00 price objective on shares of Amgen in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Amgen has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $314.04.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Amgen news, EVP Jonathan P. Graham sold 25,045 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $293.12, for a total transaction 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 trade represents a 46.35 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Nancy A. Grygiel sold 1,589 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $304.47, for a total value of $483,802.83. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 7,210 shares in the company, valued at $2,195,228.70. This trade 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 worth $20,644,335 in the last ninety days. 0.69% of the stock is owned by company 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.