Nicholson Wealth Management Group LLC Acquires 1,855 Shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Nicholson Wealth Management Group LLC grew its holdings in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 48.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,661 shares of the medical research company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,855 shares during the period. Nicholson Wealth Management Group LLC’s holdings in Amgen were worth $1,475,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Lakeside Advisors INC. raised its holdings in Amgen by 18.5% in the 4th quarter. Lakeside Advisors INC. now owns 1,298 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $338,000 after purchasing an additional 203 shares during the period. Morningstar Investment Management LLC increased its position in Amgen by 9.6% in the fourth quarter. Morningstar Investment Management LLC now owns 2,729 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $711,000 after buying an additional 239 shares in the last quarter. Hussman Strategic Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of Amgen by 40.0% in the fourth quarter. Hussman Strategic Advisors Inc. now owns 14,700 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $3,831,000 after buying an additional 4,200 shares during the period. Zullo Investment Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Amgen by 2.8% during the 4th quarter. Zullo Investment Group Inc. now owns 1,364 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $356,000 after acquiring an additional 37 shares during the period. Finally, Advyzon Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Amgen during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $232,000. 76.50% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on Amgen from $335.00 to $280.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 10th. StockNews.com downgraded Amgen from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on Amgen from $310.00 to $329.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Piper Sandler Companies reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $310.00 price objective on shares of Amgen in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $324.00 price objective on shares of Amgen in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $314.09.

Amgen Stock Up 1.2 %

Shares of AMGN opened at $297.93 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $160.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.54 and a beta of 0.56. Amgen Inc. has a 1 year low of $253.30 and a 1 year high of $346.85. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $275.62 and its 200-day simple moving average is $300.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.62, a current ratio of 1.26 and a quick ratio of 0.95.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The medical research company reported $5.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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, equities analysts expect that Amgen Inc. will post 20.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Amgen Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be given a dividend of $2.38 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $9.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.20%. This is an increase from Amgen’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.25. Amgen’s payout ratio is currently 126.09%.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Nancy A. Grygiel sold 1,589 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 5th. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,195,228.70. The trade was a 18.06 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Murdo Gordon sold 8,771 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $294.79, for a total value of $2,585,603.09. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 44,186 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,025,590.94. This represents a 16.56 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 35,405 shares of company stock valued at $10,410,596. 0.69% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.