Lake Street Advisors Group LLC Purchases 5,848 Shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Lake Street Advisors Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 84.8% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 12,746 shares of the medical research company’s stock after buying an additional 5,848 shares during the period. Lake Street Advisors Group LLC’s holdings in Amgen were worth $3,322,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Lansing Street Advisors boosted its holdings in shares of Amgen by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. Lansing Street Advisors now owns 2,582 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $832,000 after acquiring an additional 32 shares in the last quarter. Unionview LLC raised its position in Amgen by 3.8% in the third quarter. Unionview LLC now owns 876 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $282,000 after purchasing an additional 32 shares during the last quarter. AM Investment Strategies LLC boosted its stake in shares of Amgen by 0.4% during the third quarter. AM Investment Strategies LLC now owns 7,471 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $2,407,000 after purchasing an additional 33 shares in the last quarter. Avidian Wealth Enterprises LLC grew its holdings in shares of Amgen by 0.6% during the third quarter. Avidian Wealth Enterprises LLC now owns 5,863 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,889,000 after purchasing an additional 33 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Beacon Financial Advisory LLC increased its stake in shares of Amgen by 4.6% in the third quarter. Beacon Financial Advisory LLC now owns 769 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $248,000 after buying an additional 34 shares during the period. 76.50% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AMGN has been the topic of several recent research reports. Citigroup reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of Amgen in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price objective on shares of Amgen from $305.00 to $285.00 in a research note on Wednesday, November 27th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $324.00 price objective on shares of Amgen in a report on Friday, January 24th. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $380.00 target price on shares of Amgen in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Finally, 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. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $314.09.

Amgen Stock Up 1.9 %

Amgen stock opened at $315.63 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $169.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 0.56. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $278.13 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $300.16. Amgen Inc. has a 1-year low of $253.30 and a 1-year high of $346.85. The company has a current ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.62.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The medical research company reported $5.31 earnings per share (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, equities research analysts predict that Amgen Inc. will post 20.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Amgen Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th will be given a $2.38 dividend. This is a positive change from Amgen’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.25. This represents a $9.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.02%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio is presently 126.09%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Amgen

In other news, EVP Jonathan P. Graham sold 25,045 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 owns 28,987 shares in the company, valued at $8,496,669.44. This represents a 46.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Murdo Gordon sold 8,771 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $294.79, for a total transaction of $2,585,603.09. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 44,186 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,025,590.94. This trade represents a 16.56 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 69,341 shares of company stock worth $20,644,335. Corporate insiders own 0.69% of the company’s stock.

Amgen Profile

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.