Bell Asset Management Ltd Boosts Stock Position in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Bell Asset Management Ltd grew its holdings in shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 142.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 18,743 shares of the medical research company’s stock after buying an additional 11,010 shares during the quarter. Bell Asset Management Ltd’s holdings in Amgen were worth $4,885,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in AMGN. Blossom Wealth Management increased its position in shares of Amgen by 3.5% in the 4th quarter. Blossom Wealth Management now owns 1,090 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $284,000 after purchasing an additional 37 shares during the last quarter. Zullo Investment Group Inc. increased its holdings in Amgen by 2.8% in the fourth quarter. Zullo Investment Group Inc. now owns 1,364 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $356,000 after buying an additional 37 shares during the last quarter. Trillium Asset Management LLC raised its stake in Amgen by 4.2% during the fourth quarter. Trillium Asset Management LLC now owns 911 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $237,000 after buying an additional 37 shares in the last quarter. Prestige Wealth Management Group LLC lifted its holdings in Amgen by 2.8% during the 3rd quarter. Prestige Wealth Management Group LLC now owns 1,387 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $447,000 after buying an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Evermay Wealth Management LLC grew its position in shares of Amgen by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. Evermay Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,650 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $691,000 after acquiring an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.50% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $324.00 price objective on shares of Amgen in a report on Friday, January 24th. Truist Financial lowered their price objective on shares of Amgen from $333.00 to $298.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. StockNews.com raised shares of Amgen from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Saturday, March 29th. Bank of America upped their target price on Amgen from $275.00 to $294.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Finally, Piper Sandler Companies reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $310.00 price target on shares of Amgen in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Amgen currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $314.04.

Insider Activity at Amgen

In other Amgen news, EVP David M. Reese sold 25,225 shares of Amgen stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $304.44, for a total transaction of $7,679,499.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 36,922 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,240,533.68. The trade was a 40.59 % decrease in their position. The transaction 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 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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 28,987 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,496,669.44. This trade represents a 46.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 69,341 shares of company stock worth $20,644,335 in the last quarter. 0.69% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Amgen Price Performance

NASDAQ:AMGN opened at $294.39 on Monday. Amgen Inc. has a 52-week low of $253.30 and a 52-week 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 firm has a market cap of $158.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.99, a PEG ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 0.53. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $304.18 and its 200 day moving average price is $296.99.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The medical research company reported $5.31 EPS for the quarter, topping 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, sell-side analysts predict that Amgen Inc. will post 20.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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 issued a dividend of $2.38 per share. This represents a $9.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.23%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 16th. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio is 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.