J. W. Coons Advisors LLC Decreases Stake in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

J. W. Coons Advisors LLC lowered its stake in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 3.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 6,819 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 230 shares during the period. J. W. Coons Advisors LLC’s holdings in Amgen were worth $1,777,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in AMGN. Capital Performance Advisors LLP purchased a new position in shares of Amgen in the third quarter worth $25,000. Centricity Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Amgen in the fourth quarter worth $25,000. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC purchased a new position in shares of Amgen in the third quarter worth $29,000. Heck Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Amgen in the fourth quarter worth $36,000. Finally, PrairieView Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Amgen by 118.3% in the fourth quarter. PrairieView Partners LLC now owns 179 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $46,000 after acquiring an additional 97 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.50% of the company’s stock.

Amgen Stock Up 1.7 %

Shares of NASDAQ AMGN opened at $303.01 on Monday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $276.27 and its 200-day simple moving average is $300.31. Amgen Inc. has a 52-week low of $253.30 and a 52-week high of $346.85. The firm has a market cap of $162.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.58 and a beta of 0.56. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.62.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The medical research company reported $5.31 earnings per share (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 predict that Amgen Inc. will post 20.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Amgen Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be paid a $2.38 dividend. This is an increase from Amgen’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.25. This represents a $9.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.14%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 126.09%.

Insider Transactions at Amgen

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Citigroup reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of Amgen in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $324.00 price objective on shares of Amgen in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Redburn Partners cut their price objective on shares of Amgen from $200.00 to $195.00 in a research note on Wednesday, November 27th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their price objective on shares of Amgen from $305.00 to $285.00 in a research note on Wednesday, November 27th. Finally, Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of Amgen from $256.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Two equities 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $314.09.

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.