Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT Has $4.04 Million Holdings in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT lessened its stake in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 4.4% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 15,494 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 705 shares during the period. Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT’s holdings in Amgen were worth $4,038,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Capital Performance Advisors LLP bought a new position in shares of Amgen during the third quarter worth $25,000. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC acquired a new stake in Amgen during the 3rd quarter worth $29,000. Centricity Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Amgen during the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. Heck Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Amgen in the fourth quarter valued at about $36,000. Finally, Kennebec Savings Bank bought a new stake in shares of Amgen in the third quarter worth about $57,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.50% of the company’s stock.

Amgen Stock Performance

NASDAQ AMGN opened at $303.01 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $162.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.55 and a beta of 0.56. The company has a current ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.62. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $276.27 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $300.59. Amgen Inc. has a 1 year low of $253.30 and a 1 year high of $346.85.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The medical research company reported $5.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.04 by $0.27. Amgen had a net margin of 12.24% and a return on equity of 176.32%. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Amgen Inc. will post 20.6 EPS for the current year.

Amgen Increases Dividend

The firm 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 dividend of $2.38 per share. This is an increase from Amgen’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.25. This represents a $9.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.14%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. Amgen’s payout ratio is currently 126.09%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on AMGN shares. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $380.00 price objective on shares of Amgen in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on shares of Amgen in a report on Friday, November 15th. They set a “peer perform” rating on the stock. Redburn Partners reduced their price target on shares of Amgen from $200.00 to $195.00 in a report on Wednesday, November 27th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of Amgen from $335.00 to $280.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their target price on shares of Amgen from $305.00 to $285.00 in a research note on Wednesday, November 27th. Two 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Amgen currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $314.09.

Insider Transactions at Amgen

In other Amgen news, EVP Jonathan P. Graham sold 25,045 shares of Amgen stock in a transaction on Friday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $293.12, for a total transaction of $7,341,190.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 28,987 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,496,669.44. The trade was a 46.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available 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 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. 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 69,341 shares of company stock worth $20,644,335. 0.69% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.