Murdo Gordon Sells 8,771 Shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) Stock

Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) EVP Murdo Gordon sold 8,771 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $294.79, for a total transaction of $2,585,603.09. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 44,186 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,025,590.94. This represents a 16.56 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink.

Amgen Price Performance

Amgen stock opened at $291.16 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $156.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.56, a PEG ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.56. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $273.75 and its 200 day moving average is $302.14. The company has a quick ratio of 0.96, 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.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The medical research company reported $5.31 earnings per share 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%. Sell-side analysts forecast that Amgen Inc. will post 20.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Amgen Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Stockholders 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 represents a $9.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.27%. This is an increase from Amgen’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.25. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio is currently 126.09%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have commented on AMGN. Leerink Partners reduced their target price on shares of Amgen from $349.00 to $302.00 in a report on Wednesday, November 27th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on shares of Amgen from $335.00 to $280.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their price target on shares of Amgen from $305.00 to $285.00 in a research report on Wednesday, November 27th. Piper Sandler Companies reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $310.00 price target on shares of Amgen in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Finally, Redburn Partners dropped their price target on shares of Amgen from $200.00 to $195.00 in a research report on Wednesday, November 27th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $314.09.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Amgen

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Amgen by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 52,721,795 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $13,741,409,000 after acquiring an additional 339,522 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its stake in Amgen by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 29,317,018 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $9,446,236,000 after buying an additional 345,537 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in Amgen by 25.4% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 13,205,604 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $3,441,909,000 after buying an additional 2,672,975 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Amgen by 2.9% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 12,475,032 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $3,245,881,000 after buying an additional 352,143 shares during the period. Finally, Capital International Investors increased its stake in Amgen by 40.1% in the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 12,212,065 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $3,182,843,000 after buying an additional 3,495,503 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.50% of the company’s stock.

Amgen Company 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.