Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) Stock Position Trimmed by Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC

Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC lowered its stake in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 4.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 189,882 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 8,782 shares during the quarter. Amgen makes up about 5.7% of Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 4th biggest position. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Amgen were worth $49,491,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in AMGN. Seven Eight Capital LP purchased a new position in Amgen in the 2nd quarter valued at about $845,000. XTX Topco Ltd bought a new stake in Amgen during the second quarter worth approximately $661,000. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. raised its holdings in Amgen by 14.3% during the second quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. now owns 42,959 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $13,422,000 after purchasing an additional 5,377 shares in the last quarter. AE Wealth Management LLC grew its position in Amgen by 33.1% in the second quarter. AE Wealth Management LLC now owns 19,241 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $6,012,000 after buying an additional 4,789 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its position in Amgen by 8.9% during the 2nd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 74,039 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $23,133,000 after purchasing an additional 6,048 shares in the last quarter. 76.50% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Bank of America reaffirmed an “underperform” rating and issued a $256.00 price objective on shares of Amgen in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on shares of Amgen in a research report on Friday, November 15th. They set a “peer perform” rating on the stock. Piper Sandler Companies restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $310.00 price objective on shares of Amgen in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Amgen from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Piper Sandler decreased their target price on shares of Amgen from $344.00 to $310.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $314.91.

Amgen Stock Performance

Shares of Amgen stock opened at $272.11 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $146.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.84, a P/E/G ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 0.56. Amgen Inc. has a 12 month low of $253.30 and a 12 month high of $346.85. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $273.95 and its 200-day moving average price is $307.22. The company has a current ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.55.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The medical research company reported $5.58 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.11 by $0.47. Amgen had a return on equity of 168.35% and a net margin of 13.00%. The company had revenue of $8.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.50 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $4.96 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 23.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts expect that Amgen Inc. will post 19.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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 issued a $2.38 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $9.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.50%. This is an increase from Amgen’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.25. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio is presently 115.24%.

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.