Scotia Capital Inc. Sells 7,208 Shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Scotia Capital Inc. reduced its stake in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 14.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 44,016 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 7,208 shares during the period. Scotia Capital Inc.’s holdings in Amgen were worth $11,473,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Centricity Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Amgen during the fourth quarter worth $25,000. Ritter Daniher Financial Advisory LLC DE boosted its holdings in shares of Amgen by 66.2% during the 4th quarter. Ritter Daniher Financial Advisory LLC DE now owns 128 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $33,000 after acquiring an additional 51 shares in the last quarter. Synergy Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in Amgen during the 4th quarter worth $34,000. Atala Financial Inc acquired a new position in Amgen in the 4th quarter worth about $34,000. Finally, Heck Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in Amgen in the fourth quarter valued at about $36,000. 76.50% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Amgen

In other Amgen news, EVP David M. Reese sold 25,225 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 approximately $11,240,533.68. This trade represents a 40.59 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Murdo Gordon sold 8,771 shares of Amgen stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $294.79, for a total transaction of $2,585,603.09. Following the transaction, 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. In the last quarter, insiders sold 69,341 shares of company stock worth $20,644,335. Insiders own 0.69% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. StockNews.com raised Amgen from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Wells Fargo & Company restated an “equal weight” rating on shares of Amgen in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Johnson Rice set a $294.00 price target on shares of Amgen in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on Amgen from $310.00 to $329.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, February 10th. Finally, Piper Sandler Companies reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $310.00 target price on shares of Amgen in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Amgen currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $315.22.

Amgen Trading Down 3.3 %

Shares of Amgen stock opened at $281.41 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $151.17 billion, a PE ratio of 37.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 0.59. Amgen Inc. has a 52 week low of $253.30 and a 52 week high of $346.85. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $304.39 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $295.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.62, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 1.26.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The medical research company reported $5.31 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.04 by $0.27. Amgen had a net margin of 12.24% and a return on equity of 176.32%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Amgen Inc. will post 20.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Amgen Dividend Announcement

The firm 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 16th. This represents a $9.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.38%. Amgen’s payout ratio is 126.09%.

About Amgen

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.