Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. Grows Position in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 25.4% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 13,205,604 shares of the medical research company’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,672,975 shares during the quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Amgen were worth $3,441,909,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Capital Performance Advisors LLP purchased a new position in shares of Amgen in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Centricity Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Amgen during the fourth quarter valued at $25,000. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC purchased a new position in Amgen during the third quarter valued at $29,000. Heck Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Amgen during the fourth quarter valued at $36,000. Finally, PrairieView Partners LLC raised its stake in Amgen by 118.3% during the fourth quarter. PrairieView Partners LLC now owns 179 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $46,000 after buying an additional 97 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.50% of the company’s stock.

Amgen Stock Performance

NASDAQ:AMGN opened at $310.78 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $281.80 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $299.73. Amgen Inc. has a 52-week low of $253.30 and a 52-week high of $346.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.62, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 1.26. The firm has a market capitalization of $166.95 billion, a PE ratio of 41.16, a P/E/G ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 0.56.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The medical research company reported $5.31 earnings per share (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%. Analysts forecast that Amgen Inc. will post 20.62 EPS for the current year.

Amgen Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed 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. This is a positive change from Amgen’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.25. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $9.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.06%. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio is 126.09%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have issued reports on AMGN. UBS Group reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Amgen in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Piper Sandler Companies reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $310.00 price objective on shares of Amgen in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Redburn Partners lowered their price objective on Amgen from $200.00 to $195.00 in a research note on Wednesday, November 27th. Truist Financial decreased their price target on Amgen from $333.00 to $298.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, William Blair restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Amgen in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $314.09.

Insider Transactions at Amgen

In other news, SVP Nancy A. Grygiel sold 1,589 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 5th. The stock was 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 owns 7,210 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,195,228.70. This represents a 18.06 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP David M. Reese sold 25,225 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $304.44, for a total value of $7,679,499.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 36,922 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,240,533.68. This trade represents a 40.59 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 69,341 shares of company stock valued at $20,644,335 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.69% of the company’s stock.

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.