Secured Retirement Advisors LLC Raises Position in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Secured Retirement Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 15.6% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 7,192 shares of the medical research company’s stock after buying an additional 969 shares during the period. Secured Retirement Advisors LLC’s holdings in Amgen were worth $1,875,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Talbot Financial LLC boosted its position in shares of Amgen by 5.6% during the fourth quarter. Talbot Financial LLC now owns 42,791 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $11,153,000 after buying an additional 2,274 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank lifted its stake in shares of Amgen by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 1,592,233 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $513,033,000 after acquiring an additional 5,500 shares during the last quarter. Asset Advisors Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in Amgen by 9.0% during the 3rd quarter. Asset Advisors Investment Management LLC now owns 35,934 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $11,578,000 after acquiring an additional 2,954 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its position in Amgen by 6.0% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 635,172 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $204,659,000 after acquiring an additional 35,785 shares during the last quarter. Finally, First Horizon Advisors Inc. increased its stake in Amgen by 3.2% in the third quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 60,769 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $19,581,000 after purchasing an additional 1,872 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 76.50% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Amgen news, EVP Murdo Gordon sold 8,771 shares of Amgen stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $294.79, for a total transaction of $2,585,603.09. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 44,186 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,025,590.94. This trade represents a 16.56 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Jonathan P. Graham sold 25,045 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 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 35,405 shares of company stock valued at $10,410,596 over the last quarter. 0.69% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AMGN has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $405.00 price target on shares of Amgen in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. TD Cowen upped their target price on shares of Amgen from $381.00 to $383.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on shares of Amgen from $335.00 to $280.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 10th. StockNews.com cut Amgen from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Piper Sandler lifted their target price on Amgen from $310.00 to $329.00 and gave the company 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 issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $314.09.

Amgen Stock Down 2.0 %

AMGN stock opened at $291.16 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $156.51 billion, a PE ratio of 38.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.56. 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 0.96, a current ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.62. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $274.12 and a 200 day moving average of $301.85.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The medical research company reported $5.31 earnings per share 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%. Sell-side analysts forecast that Amgen Inc. will post 20.59 earnings per share for the current year.

Amgen Increases Dividend

The company 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 represents a $9.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.27%. This is a boost from Amgen’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.25. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 119.21%.

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.