Convergence Investment Partners LLC Reduces Position in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Convergence Investment Partners LLC lowered its holdings in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 53.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,247 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 1,431 shares during the period. Convergence Investment Partners LLC’s holdings in Amgen were worth $325,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. State Street Corp grew its position in shares of Amgen by 1.2% during the third 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 in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Amgen by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 12,122,889 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $3,893,771,000 after acquiring an additional 103,851 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in Amgen by 2.4% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 10,532,629 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $3,393,718,000 after acquiring an additional 251,876 shares in the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its holdings in Amgen by 11.7% during the 3rd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 5,143,330 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,657,183,000 after acquiring an additional 538,545 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Pathway Financial Advisers LLC grew its holdings in Amgen by 33,125.4% during the 3rd quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 4,460,181 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,437,115,000 after acquiring an additional 4,446,757 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.50% of the company’s stock.

Amgen Stock Performance

AMGN opened at $294.27 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $158.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.53 and a beta of 0.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.62, a current ratio of 1.26 and a quick ratio of 0.95. Amgen Inc. has a 1-year low of $253.30 and a 1-year high of $346.85. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $275.15 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $300.77.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 return on equity of 176.32% and a net margin of 12.24%. Research analysts predict that Amgen Inc. will post 20.6 EPS 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 $2.38 dividend. This represents a $9.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.24%. This is an increase from Amgen’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.25. 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 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 28,987 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,496,669.44. This represents a 46.35 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Nancy A. Grygiel sold 1,589 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $304.47, for a total value of $483,802.83. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 7,210 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,195,228.70. This represents a 18.06 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 35,405 shares of company stock valued at $10,410,596. 0.69% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AMGN has been the subject of a number of research reports. StockNews.com downgraded Amgen from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $324.00 target price on shares of Amgen in a research report on Friday, January 24th. UBS Group decreased their price objective on shares of Amgen from $335.00 to $326.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 31st. William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Amgen in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $380.00 price target on shares of Amgen in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $314.09.

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.