Sigma Planning Corp Sells 231 Shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Sigma Planning Corp trimmed its holdings in shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 1.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 18,402 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 231 shares during the period. Sigma Planning Corp’s holdings in Amgen were worth $4,796,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of Amgen by 1.2% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 29,317,018 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $9,446,236,000 after buying an additional 345,537 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Amgen by 0.9% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 12,122,889 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $3,893,771,000 after purchasing an additional 103,851 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in Amgen by 2.4% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 10,532,629 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $3,393,718,000 after purchasing an additional 251,876 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its holdings in Amgen by 11.7% during the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 5,143,330 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,657,183,000 after purchasing an additional 538,545 shares during the period. Finally, Pathway Financial Advisers LLC grew its holdings in Amgen by 33,125.4% during the third quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 4,460,181 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,437,115,000 after purchasing an additional 4,446,757 shares during the period. 76.50% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Amgen news, SVP Nancy A. Grygiel sold 1,589 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $304.47, for a total transaction of $483,802.83. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 7,210 shares in the company, valued at $2,195,228.70. This represents a 18.06 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP David M. Reese sold 25,225 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $304.44, for a total transaction of $7,679,499.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 36,922 shares in the company, valued at $11,240,533.68. The trade was a 40.59 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 69,341 shares of company stock worth $20,644,335 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.69% of the company’s stock.

Amgen Price Performance

Shares of AMGN opened at $303.01 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.62, a current ratio of 1.26 and a quick ratio of 0.95. The company’s 50-day moving average is $276.27 and its 200-day moving average is $300.59. Amgen Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $253.30 and a fifty-two week high of $346.85. The firm has a market capitalization of $162.78 billion, a PE ratio of 40.13, a PEG ratio of 2.55 and a beta of 0.56.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The medical research company reported $5.31 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.04 by $0.27. Amgen had a net margin of 12.24% and a return on equity of 176.32%. Equities analysts forecast that Amgen Inc. will post 20.6 EPS for the current year.

Amgen Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be paid a dividend of $2.38 per share. This represents a $9.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.14%. This is an increase from Amgen’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.25. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio is presently 126.09%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on shares of Amgen from $335.00 to $280.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 10th. UBS Group reduced their price target on shares of Amgen from $335.00 to $326.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Leerink Partners reduced their price target on shares of Amgen from $349.00 to $302.00 in a report on Wednesday, November 27th. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $380.00 price target on shares of Amgen in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Amgen from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $314.09.

Amgen Company 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.