ProVise Management Group LLC Sells 2,501 Shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

ProVise Management Group LLC cut its holdings in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 13.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 16,220 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 2,501 shares during the quarter. ProVise Management Group LLC’s holdings in Amgen were worth $4,228,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Swedbank AB raised its holdings in shares of Amgen by 1.1% during the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 538,899 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $173,639,000 after acquiring an additional 5,751 shares during the period. Quest Partners LLC grew its position in Amgen by 1,568.7% in the third quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 1,919 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $618,000 after purchasing an additional 1,804 shares in the last quarter. Joseph Group Capital Management grew its position in Amgen by 15.7% in the third quarter. Joseph Group Capital Management now owns 8,633 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $2,782,000 after purchasing an additional 1,169 shares in the last quarter. Pathstone Holdings LLC grew its position in shares of Amgen by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. Pathstone Holdings LLC now owns 98,605 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $31,772,000 after acquiring an additional 1,694 shares during the period. Finally, Caprock Group LLC grew its position in shares of Amgen by 6.6% in the 3rd quarter. Caprock Group LLC now owns 16,424 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $5,292,000 after acquiring an additional 1,017 shares during the period. 76.50% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently commented on AMGN shares. Johnson Rice set a $294.00 price objective on shares of Amgen in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Citigroup reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Amgen in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Bank of America lifted their price objective on shares of Amgen from $275.00 to $294.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Amgen from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on shares of Amgen from $310.00 to $329.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $314.04.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Nancy A. Grygiel sold 1,589 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 7,210 shares in the company, valued at $2,195,228.70. This represents a 18.06 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Jonathan P. Graham sold 25,045 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 owns 28,987 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,496,669.44. This represents a 46.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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. 0.69% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Amgen Price Performance

Shares of Amgen stock opened at $318.65 on Wednesday. Amgen Inc. has a twelve month low of $253.30 and a twelve month high of $346.85. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.62. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $294.12 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $298.91. The stock has a market capitalization of $171.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 0.53.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last issued its earnings results 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 net margin of 12.24% and a return on equity of 176.32%. Analysts forecast that Amgen Inc. will post 20.62 EPS for the current year.

Amgen Announces Dividend

The company 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.99%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 16th. Amgen’s payout ratio is presently 126.09%.

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.