Hills Bank & Trust Co Lowers Stock Holdings in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Hills Bank & Trust Co reduced its stake in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 5.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 632 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 35 shares during the quarter. Hills Bank & Trust Co’s holdings in Amgen were worth $165,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of Amgen by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 29,317,018 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $9,446,236,000 after purchasing an additional 345,537 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Amgen by 25.4% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 13,205,604 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $3,441,909,000 after buying an additional 2,672,975 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of 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 valued at $3,893,771,000 after buying an additional 103,851 shares in the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its stake 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 valued at $1,657,183,000 after buying an additional 538,545 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its stake in shares of Amgen by 6.3% in the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 4,442,543 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,431,432,000 after buying an additional 264,396 shares in the last quarter. 76.50% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AMGN has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company restated an “equal weight” rating on shares of Amgen in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Truist Financial decreased their price target on Amgen from $333.00 to $298.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their price target on Amgen from $305.00 to $285.00 in a research note on Wednesday, November 27th. Redburn Partners decreased their target price on Amgen from $200.00 to $195.00 in a research report on Wednesday, November 27th. Finally, Piper Sandler boosted their target price on Amgen from $310.00 to $329.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Amgen currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $314.04.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Nancy A. Grygiel sold 1,589 shares of the 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 sale, the senior vice president now 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP David M. Reese sold 25,225 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 21st. The shares were 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 $11,240,533.68. This represents a 40.59 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 69,341 shares of company stock worth $20,644,335. 0.69% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Amgen Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:AMGN opened at $313.71 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $168.53 billion, a PE ratio of 41.55, a P/E/G ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 0.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.62, a current ratio of 1.26 and a quick ratio of 0.95. The business has a 50-day moving average of $291.82 and a two-hundred day moving average of $299.33. Amgen Inc. has a 12 month low of $253.30 and a 12 month high of $346.85.

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

Amgen Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 16th will be paid a $2.38 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 16th. This represents a $9.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.03%. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 126.09%.

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.