Teacher Retirement System of Texas Has $49.70 Million Stock Holdings in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Teacher Retirement System of Texas grew its position in shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 31.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 190,666 shares of the medical research company’s stock after purchasing an additional 45,450 shares during the quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas’ holdings in Amgen were worth $49,695,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Blossom Wealth Management boosted its stake in shares of Amgen by 3.5% during the fourth quarter. Blossom Wealth Management now owns 1,090 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $284,000 after purchasing an additional 37 shares in the last quarter. Zullo Investment Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Amgen by 2.8% during the fourth quarter. Zullo Investment Group Inc. now owns 1,364 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $356,000 after purchasing an additional 37 shares in the last quarter. Trillium Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Amgen by 4.2% during the fourth quarter. Trillium Asset Management LLC now owns 911 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $237,000 after purchasing an additional 37 shares in the last quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group boosted its stake in shares of Amgen by 1.1% during the third quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 3,377 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,088,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Prestige Wealth Management Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Amgen by 2.8% during the third quarter. Prestige Wealth Management Group LLC now owns 1,387 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $447,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. 76.50% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AMGN has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Redburn Partners cut their price objective on Amgen from $200.00 to $195.00 in a research note on Wednesday, November 27th. Bank of America lifted their price objective on Amgen from $275.00 to $294.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Johnson Rice set a $294.00 price objective on Amgen in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Piper Sandler Companies reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $310.00 price objective on shares of Amgen in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Amgen from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Amgen has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $314.04.

Insider Activity at Amgen

In related news, SVP Nancy A. Grygiel sold 1,589 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $304.47, for a total value of $483,802.83. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 7,210 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,195,228.70. This represents a 18.06 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP David M. Reese sold 25,225 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $304.44, for a total value of $7,679,499.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 36,922 shares of the company’s stock, 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. In the last three months, insiders sold 69,341 shares of company stock valued at $20,644,335. 0.69% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Amgen Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:AMGN opened at $315.04 on Friday. 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 Inc. has a twelve month low of $253.30 and a twelve month high of $346.85. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $296.17 and its 200-day moving average is $299.14. The firm has a market capitalization of $169.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.73, a PEG ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 0.53.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The medical research company reported $5.31 earnings per share 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%. Sell-side analysts forecast that Amgen Inc. will post 20.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Amgen Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Investors of record on Friday, May 16th will be given a $2.38 dividend. This represents a $9.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.02%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 16th. Amgen’s payout ratio is currently 126.09%.

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.