Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV Buys 241 Shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV lifted its position in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 1.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 18,521 shares of the medical research company’s stock after purchasing an additional 241 shares during the period. Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV’s holdings in Amgen were worth $4,828,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. ABC Arbitrage SA bought a new stake in Amgen during the 4th quarter valued at $1,510,000. DeDora Capital Inc. increased its stake in shares of Amgen by 3.0% during the fourth quarter. DeDora Capital Inc. now owns 5,601 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,460,000 after buying an additional 165 shares during the period. Campbell Wealth Management bought a new stake in shares of Amgen in the fourth quarter valued at about $219,000. Asset Planning Inc purchased a new stake in Amgen in the fourth quarter worth about $191,000. Finally, White Pine Capital LLC grew its holdings in Amgen by 5.6% during the 4th quarter. White Pine Capital LLC now owns 1,149 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $299,000 after acquiring an additional 61 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.50% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Piper Sandler Companies restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $310.00 price target on shares of Amgen in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Piper Sandler upped their target price on Amgen from $310.00 to $329.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, February 10th. StockNews.com downgraded Amgen from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Redburn Partners reduced their price target on Amgen from $200.00 to $195.00 in a research report on Wednesday, November 27th. Finally, Truist Financial dropped their price objective on Amgen from $333.00 to $298.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $314.09.

Amgen Stock Performance

Shares of AMGN stock opened at $291.16 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $156.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.62, a current ratio of 1.26 and a quick ratio of 0.96. The business has a fifty day moving average of $273.75 and a 200 day moving average of $302.14. Amgen Inc. has a 1 year low of $253.30 and a 1 year high of $346.85.

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 176.32% and a net margin of 12.24%. As a group, research analysts expect that Amgen Inc. will post 20.59 earnings per share for the current year.

Amgen Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th will be paid a $2.38 dividend. This is a positive change from Amgen’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.25. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $9.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.27%. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 126.09%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Amgen news, EVP Jonathan P. Graham sold 25,045 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $293.12, for a total transaction of $7,341,190.40. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 28,987 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,496,669.44. This trade represents a 46.35 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Murdo Gordon sold 8,771 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $294.79, for a total value of $2,585,603.09. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 44,186 shares in the company, valued at $13,025,590.94. This represents a 16.56 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 35,405 shares of company stock worth $10,410,596 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.69% of the company’s stock.

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.