Addison Advisors LLC Sells 43 Shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Addison Advisors LLC lowered its stake in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 3.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 1,156 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 43 shares during the period. Addison Advisors LLC’s holdings in Amgen were worth $301,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of AMGN. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its position in shares of Amgen by 263.8% in the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,038,593 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $270,699,000 after purchasing an additional 753,147 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its position in shares of Amgen by 40.7% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,338,665 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $609,526,000 after purchasing an additional 676,598 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its position in shares of Amgen by 11.7% in the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 5,143,330 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,657,183,000 after purchasing an additional 538,545 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its stake in Amgen by 1.2% in 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 buying an additional 345,537 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund boosted its stake in Amgen by 573.3% in the third quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 355,872 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $114,666,000 after buying an additional 303,016 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.50% of the company’s stock.

Amgen Stock Performance

Shares of AMGN stock opened at $309.72 on Tuesday. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $277.14 and its 200 day simple moving average is $300.20. Amgen Inc. has a one year low of $253.30 and a one year high of $346.85. The stock has a market capitalization of $166.38 billion, a PE ratio of 41.02, a PEG ratio of 2.63 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 (NASDAQ:AMGN) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The medical research company reported $5.31 EPS 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%. As a group, research analysts forecast that Amgen Inc. will post 20.62 earnings per share for the current 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 paid a $2.38 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. 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 3.07%. Amgen’s payout ratio is 126.09%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Amgen

In other Amgen news, 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 transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 28,987 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,496,669.44. The trade was a 46.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Nancy A. Grygiel sold 1,589 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 7,210 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,195,228.70. This trade represents a 18.06 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 69,341 shares of company stock valued at $20,644,335. 0.69% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently weighed in on AMGN shares. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $324.00 price objective on shares of Amgen in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Redburn Partners reduced their price objective on Amgen from $200.00 to $195.00 in a research note on Wednesday, November 27th. UBS Group reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Amgen in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Bank of America raised 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. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Amgen from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Two 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 company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Amgen presently 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.