Allstate Corp Makes New $4.16 Million Investment in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Allstate Corp purchased a new stake in shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor purchased 15,948 shares of the medical research company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,157,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Talbot Financial LLC grew its stake in Amgen by 5.6% in the 4th quarter. Talbot Financial LLC now owns 42,791 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $11,153,000 after buying an additional 2,274 shares in the last quarter. Asset Advisors Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Amgen by 9.0% during the 3rd quarter. Asset Advisors Investment Management LLC now owns 35,934 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $11,578,000 after acquiring an additional 2,954 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its position in Amgen by 6.0% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 635,172 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $204,659,000 after acquiring an additional 35,785 shares in the last quarter. Ascent Wealth Partners LLC increased its stake in Amgen by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Ascent Wealth Partners LLC now owns 9,024 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $2,352,000 after acquiring an additional 64 shares during the last quarter. Finally, ICICI Prudential Asset Management Co Ltd raised its position in Amgen by 242.2% during the fourth quarter. ICICI Prudential Asset Management Co Ltd now owns 23,999 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $6,255,000 after purchasing an additional 16,985 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.50% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Nancy A. Grygiel sold 1,589 shares of the business’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 value of $483,802.83. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly 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 document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP David M. Reese sold 8,711 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $293.22, for a total value of $2,554,239.42. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 62,147 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,222,743.34. This trade represents a 12.29 % 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 in the last three months. 0.69% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the company. 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. Citigroup reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Amgen in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on shares of Amgen from $310.00 to $329.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Bank of America boosted their price target on shares of Amgen from $275.00 to $294.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating on shares of Amgen in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $314.04.

Amgen Price Performance

AMGN stock opened at $306.95 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.62, a current ratio of 1.26 and a quick ratio of 0.95. Amgen Inc. has a 1 year low of $253.30 and a 1 year high of $346.85. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $301.08 and a 200 day moving average of $298.38. The company has a market cap of $164.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.66, a PEG ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 0.53.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last released 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%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Amgen Inc. will post 20.62 EPS for the current year.

Amgen Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 16th will be given a $2.38 dividend. This represents a $9.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.10%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 16th. Amgen’s dividend 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.