Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) Shares Purchased by Argent Advisors Inc.

Argent Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN – Get Rating) by 4.2% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 3,047 shares of the medical research company’s stock after acquiring an additional 123 shares during the period. Argent Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Amgen were worth $687,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AMGN. Coston McIsaac & Partners acquired a new stake in Amgen during the second quarter worth about $27,000. EdgeRock Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Amgen during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $25,000. Heritage Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Amgen during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Blue Bell Private Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Amgen by 420.0% in the 2nd quarter. Blue Bell Private Wealth Management LLC now owns 130 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 105 shares during the period. Finally, Lumature Wealth Partners LLC grew its position in Amgen by 51.1% during the first quarter. Lumature Wealth Partners LLC now owns 142 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 48 shares during the period. 75.53% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. SVB Leerink increased their target price on shares of Amgen from $256.00 to $282.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 22nd. StockNews.com lowered Amgen from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 26th. Barclays reduced their target price on Amgen from $240.00 to $230.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. Oppenheimer dropped their price target on shares of Amgen from $312.00 to $294.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Truist Financial boosted their price target on shares of Amgen from $266.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 8th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Amgen currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $254.07.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Nancy A. Grygiel sold 545 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $293.54, for a total transaction of $159,979.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 13,009 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,818,661.86. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.46% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Amgen Trading Down 2.8 %

Shares of AMGN traded down $7.00 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $245.40. The company had a trading volume of 601,406 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,096,829. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $269.92 and a 200-day simple moving average of $257.27. The company has a quick ratio of 1.35, a current ratio of 1.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 10.17. The stock has a market cap of $130.94 billion, a PE ratio of 19.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 0.67. Amgen Inc. has a 1-year low of $214.39 and a 1-year high of $296.67.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN – Get Rating) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, January 31st. The medical research company reported $4.09 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.04 by $0.05. Amgen had a net margin of 25.96% and a return on equity of 287.23%. The company had revenue of $6.84 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.77 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $4.36 earnings per share. Amgen’s quarterly revenue was down .1% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that Amgen Inc. will post 17.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Amgen Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 8th. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 15th will be given a $2.13 dividend. This represents a $8.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.47%. This is a positive change from Amgen’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.94. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 14th. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio is presently 62.23%.

Amgen Profile

(Get Rating)

Amgen, Inc is a biotechnology company, which engages in the discovery, development, manufacture and marketing of human therapeutics. Its products include the following brands: Aranesp, Aimovig, KANJINTI, EVENITY, AMGEVITA, AVSOLA, BLINCYTO, MVASI, Corlanor, Enbrel, EPOGEN, IMLYGIC, Kyprolis, Neulasta, NEUPOGEN, Nplate, Parsabiv, Prolia, Repatha, Sensipar, Vectibix, Otezla, RIABNI, and XGEVA.