Ieq Capital LLC Decreases Stock Holdings in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Ieq Capital LLC reduced its stake in shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 32.8% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 35,830 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 17,512 shares during the period. Ieq Capital LLC’s holdings in Amgen were worth $9,339,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Emerald Advisors LLC raised its stake in Amgen by 4.7% in the fourth quarter. Emerald Advisors LLC now owns 3,339 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $870,000 after buying an additional 150 shares during the last quarter. Bryn Mawr Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Amgen by 365.6% in the fourth quarter. Bryn Mawr Capital Management LLC now owns 59,260 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $15,446,000 after buying an additional 46,531 shares during the last quarter. ICICI Prudential Asset Management Co Ltd raised its stake in Amgen by 242.2% in 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 buying an additional 16,985 shares during the last quarter. Financial Perspectives Inc raised its stake in Amgen by 2.7% in the fourth quarter. Financial Perspectives Inc now owns 3,574 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $932,000 after buying an additional 95 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Alberta Investment Management Corp raised its stake in Amgen by 349.0% in the fourth quarter. Alberta Investment Management Corp now owns 98,076 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $25,563,000 after buying an additional 76,232 shares during the last quarter. 76.50% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the company. UBS Group decreased their price target on Amgen from $335.00 to $326.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Redburn Partners decreased their price target on Amgen from $200.00 to $195.00 in a research note on Wednesday, November 27th. Piper Sandler increased their price target on Amgen from $310.00 to $329.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Truist Financial cut their price objective on Amgen from $333.00 to $298.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Amgen from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Amgen has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $314.09.

Insider Buying and Selling at Amgen

In other Amgen news, SVP Nancy A. Grygiel sold 1,589 shares of the firm’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 approximately $2,195,228.70. This trade represents a 18.06 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Jonathan P. Graham sold 25,045 shares of the firm’s 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 28,987 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,496,669.44. The trade was a 46.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 35,405 shares of company stock valued at $10,410,596. Company insiders own 0.69% of the company’s stock.

Amgen Stock Up 1.2 %

Amgen stock opened at $297.93 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. Amgen Inc. has a 52 week low of $253.30 and a 52 week high of $346.85. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $275.62 and its 200 day moving average price is $300.75. The firm has a market cap of $160.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.54 and a beta of 0.56.

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

Amgen Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be issued a $2.38 dividend. This is a positive change from Amgen’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.25. This represents a $9.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.20%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.