Red Crane Wealth Management LLC Takes $515,000 Position in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Red Crane Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 1,975 shares of the medical research company’s stock, valued at approximately $515,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Talbot Financial LLC boosted its stake in shares of Amgen by 5.6% during the 4th quarter. Talbot Financial LLC now owns 42,791 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $11,153,000 after acquiring an additional 2,274 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank boosted its position in Amgen by 0.3% during the third quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 1,592,233 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $513,033,000 after purchasing an additional 5,500 shares during the period. Asset Advisors Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Amgen by 9.0% in the third quarter. Asset Advisors Investment Management LLC now owns 35,934 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $11,578,000 after purchasing an additional 2,954 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Amgen by 6.0% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 635,172 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $204,659,000 after purchasing an additional 35,785 shares during the period. Finally, Ascent Wealth Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Amgen by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Ascent Wealth Partners LLC now owns 9,024 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $2,352,000 after buying an additional 64 shares during the last quarter. 76.50% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AMGN has been the topic of a number of research reports. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $380.00 price target on shares of Amgen in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Wolfe Research started coverage on Amgen in a research report on Friday, November 15th. They issued a “peer perform” rating on the stock. Redburn Partners dropped their price target on Amgen from $200.00 to $195.00 in a report on Wednesday, November 27th. Citigroup reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of Amgen in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, UBS Group reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Amgen in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Amgen currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $314.09.

Insider Transactions at Amgen

In other Amgen news, EVP David M. Reese sold 8,711 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $293.22, for a total transaction of $2,554,239.42. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 62,147 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,222,743.34. The trade was a 12.29 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Nancy A. Grygiel sold 1,589 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $304.47, for a total transaction of $483,802.83. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 7,210 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,195,228.70. The trade was a 18.06 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 69,341 shares of company stock worth $20,644,335. Corporate insiders own 0.69% of the company’s stock.

Amgen Stock Performance

NASDAQ:AMGN opened at $315.63 on Wednesday. Amgen Inc. has a twelve month low of $253.30 and a twelve month 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 stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $278.13 and its 200 day simple moving average is $300.16. The firm has a market capitalization of $169.56 billion, a PE ratio of 41.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 0.56.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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%. On average, analysts anticipate that Amgen Inc. will post 20.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Amgen Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be paid a dividend of $2.38 per share. This represents a $9.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.02%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. This is a boost from Amgen’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.25. Amgen’s payout ratio is presently 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.