Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) Shares Sold by GAMMA Investing LLC

GAMMA Investing LLC lowered its holdings in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 19.5% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 8,384 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 2,036 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC’s holdings in Amgen were worth $2,185,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Ascent Group LLC boosted its stake in Amgen by 0.3% during the second quarter. Ascent Group LLC now owns 10,949 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $3,421,000 after buying an additional 31 shares during the last quarter. Cadinha & Co. LLC increased its position in Amgen by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Cadinha & Co. LLC now owns 5,209 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,678,000 after purchasing an additional 32 shares during the period. Lansing Street Advisors lifted its stake 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 worth $832,000 after purchasing an additional 32 shares during the last quarter. Unionview LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Amgen by 3.8% during the 3rd 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. Finally, D Orazio & Associates Inc. boosted its stake in Amgen by 1.1% in the 2nd quarter. D Orazio & Associates Inc. now owns 3,101 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $969,000 after purchasing an additional 33 shares in the last quarter. 76.50% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently weighed in on AMGN. Citigroup reduced their price target on Amgen from $335.00 to $310.00 in a research report on Wednesday, November 27th. Truist Financial lowered shares of Amgen from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $320.00 to $333.00 in a report on Monday, October 14th. Leerink Partners reduced their price objective on shares of Amgen from $349.00 to $302.00 in a report on Wednesday, November 27th. Sanford C. Bernstein initiated coverage on Amgen in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $380.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Redburn Partners dropped their price target on shares of Amgen from $200.00 to $195.00 in a research note on Wednesday, November 27th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $318.83.

Amgen Price Performance

Shares of AMGN opened at $259.28 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $285.75 and a 200 day simple moving average of $310.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.55, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a current ratio of 1.32. Amgen Inc. has a 52-week low of $253.30 and a 52-week high of $346.85. The firm has a market capitalization of $139.37 billion, a PE ratio of 33.20, a P/E/G ratio of 2.91 and a beta of 0.55.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The medical research company reported $5.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.11 by $0.47. The firm had revenue of $8.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.50 billion. Amgen had a net margin of 13.00% and a return on equity of 168.35%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 23.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $4.96 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Amgen Inc. will post 19.53 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Amgen Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th will be paid a $2.38 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. 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 3.67%. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 121.90%.

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.