BLB&B Advisors LLC Sells 685 Shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

BLB&B Advisors LLC decreased its holdings in shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 17.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,242 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 685 shares during the period. BLB&B Advisors LLC’s holdings in Amgen were worth $845,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Lansing Street Advisors boosted its holdings in shares of Amgen by 1.3% during the third quarter. Lansing Street Advisors now owns 2,582 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $832,000 after acquiring an additional 32 shares during the period. Unionview LLC lifted its holdings in Amgen by 3.8% during the 3rd quarter. Unionview LLC now owns 876 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $282,000 after purchasing an additional 32 shares during the last quarter. AM Investment Strategies LLC boosted its stake in Amgen by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. AM Investment Strategies LLC now owns 7,471 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $2,407,000 after purchasing an additional 33 shares during the period. Avidian Wealth Enterprises LLC grew its holdings in Amgen by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. Avidian Wealth Enterprises LLC now owns 5,863 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,889,000 after buying an additional 33 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Beacon Financial Advisory LLC increased its position in Amgen by 4.6% during the 3rd quarter. Beacon Financial Advisory LLC now owns 769 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $248,000 after buying an additional 34 shares during the period. 76.50% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AMGN has been the topic of several research reports. Leerink Partners decreased their price target on shares of Amgen from $349.00 to $302.00 in a research note on Wednesday, November 27th. Piper Sandler Companies restated an “overweight” rating and set a $310.00 target price on shares of Amgen in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of Amgen from $256.00 to $275.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research report on Thursday. Sanford C. Bernstein started coverage on Amgen in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $380.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $405.00 price objective on shares of Amgen in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $313.23.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Nancy A. Grygiel sold 1,589 shares of Amgen 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 owns 7,210 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,195,228.70. The trade was a 18.06 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.69% of the company’s stock.

Amgen Stock Down 1.4 %

Shares of NASDAQ:AMGN opened at $293.54 on Friday. Amgen Inc. has a 52-week low of $253.30 and a 52-week high of $346.85. The company has a market capitalization of $157.79 billion, a PE ratio of 37.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 0.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.55, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a current ratio of 1.32. The company has a fifty day moving average of $272.04 and a 200-day moving average of $303.51.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The medical research company reported $5.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.04 by $0.27. Amgen had a return on equity of 168.35% and a net margin of 13.00%. On average, equities analysts predict that Amgen Inc. will post 19.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Amgen Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th will be given a dividend of $2.38 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. This is an increase from Amgen’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.25. This represents a $9.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.24%. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 115.24%.

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.