Mill Creek Capital Advisors LLC Buys 145 Shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Mill Creek Capital Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 3.9% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 3,889 shares of the medical research company’s stock after acquiring an additional 145 shares during the period. Mill Creek Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Amgen were worth $1,014,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Talbot Financial LLC lifted its holdings in Amgen by 5.6% during the fourth quarter. Talbot Financial LLC now owns 42,791 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $11,153,000 after acquiring an additional 2,274 shares in the last quarter. Swiss National Bank lifted its holdings in Amgen by 0.3% during the third quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 1,592,233 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $513,033,000 after acquiring an additional 5,500 shares in the last quarter. Asset Advisors Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in Amgen by 9.0% during the third 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 in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Amgen by 6.0% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 635,172 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $204,659,000 after purchasing an additional 35,785 shares during the period. Finally, First Horizon Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of Amgen by 3.2% in the 3rd quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 60,769 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $19,581,000 after purchasing an additional 1,872 shares during the period. 76.50% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Amgen news, SVP Nancy A. Grygiel sold 1,589 shares of Amgen stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 5th. The stock was 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 owns 7,210 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,195,228.70. The trade was a 18.06 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Jonathan P. Graham sold 25,045 shares of Amgen 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 transaction, the executive vice president now owns 28,987 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,496,669.44. This trade represents a 46.35 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.69% of the company’s stock.

Amgen Stock Up 0.4 %

Shares of AMGN opened at $294.79 on Tuesday. Amgen Inc. has a 52 week low of $253.30 and a 52 week high of $346.85. The stock has a market capitalization of $158.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.05, a PEG ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.62, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a current ratio of 1.26. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $272.26 and a 200-day moving average of $302.77.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The medical research company reported $5.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 20.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Amgen Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be issued a dividend of $2.38 per share. This is an increase from Amgen’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.25. This represents a $9.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.23%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 119.21%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have issued reports on AMGN shares. Bank of America lifted their price target on Amgen from $256.00 to $275.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. UBS Group dropped their price target on Amgen from $335.00 to $326.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Citigroup dropped their price target on Amgen from $310.00 to $295.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Piper Sandler Companies reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $310.00 target price on shares of Amgen in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $380.00 target price on shares of Amgen in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Amgen currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $314.09.

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.