Cassaday & Co Wealth Management LLC Boosts Stock Holdings in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Cassaday & Co Wealth Management LLC grew its position in shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 2.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,936 shares of the medical research company’s stock after acquiring an additional 104 shares during the period. Cassaday & Co Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Amgen were worth $1,026,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. State Street Corp raised its stake 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 valued at $9,446,236,000 after acquiring an additional 345,537 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Amgen by 0.9% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 12,122,889 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $3,893,771,000 after purchasing an additional 103,851 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of 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 valued at $3,393,718,000 after buying 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 valued at $1,657,183,000 after buying 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 valued at $1,437,115,000 after buying an additional 4,446,757 shares in the last quarter. 76.50% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Amgen news, SVP Nancy A. Grygiel sold 1,589 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 7,210 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,195,228.70. The trade was a 18.06 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Jonathan P. Graham sold 25,045 shares of the business’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 value of $7,341,190.40. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 28,987 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $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. Insiders sold a total of 35,405 shares of company stock valued at $10,410,596 in the last three months. Insiders own 0.69% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AMGN has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Citigroup decreased their target price on Amgen from $310.00 to $295.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Bank of America increased their price objective on Amgen from $256.00 to $275.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their price target on Amgen from $305.00 to $285.00 in a research note on Wednesday, November 27th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $324.00 target price on shares of Amgen in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Wolfe Research began coverage on Amgen in a research note on Friday, November 15th. They set a “peer perform” rating for the company. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Amgen currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $314.09.

Amgen Price Performance

NASDAQ:AMGN opened at $297.93 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $160.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.46, a P/E/G ratio of 2.54 and a beta of 0.56. Amgen Inc. has a 12-month low of $253.30 and a 12-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 stock’s 50 day moving average price is $275.62 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $300.75.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The medical research company reported $5.31 earnings per share 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%. On average, analysts anticipate that Amgen Inc. will post 20.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Amgen Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th will be given a dividend of $2.38 per share. 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 3.20%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.