Ensign Peak Advisors Inc Increases Stock Position in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Ensign Peak Advisors Inc lifted its holdings in shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 25.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 336,055 shares of the medical research company’s stock after buying an additional 68,990 shares during the period. Ensign Peak Advisors Inc owned about 0.06% of Amgen worth $87,589,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Talbot Financial LLC increased its holdings in shares of Amgen by 5.6% in the 4th quarter. Talbot Financial LLC now owns 42,791 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $11,153,000 after purchasing an additional 2,274 shares in the last quarter. Ascent Wealth Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Amgen by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Ascent Wealth Partners LLC now owns 9,024 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $2,352,000 after buying an additional 64 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its position in Amgen by 6.0% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 635,172 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $204,659,000 after buying an additional 35,785 shares during the period. ICICI Prudential Asset Management Co Ltd increased its holdings in Amgen by 242.2% in the fourth quarter. ICICI Prudential Asset Management Co Ltd now owns 23,999 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $6,255,000 after buying an additional 16,985 shares in the last quarter. Finally, PFW Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Amgen during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,105,000. 76.50% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently weighed in on AMGN. UBS Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $315.00 price objective (down from $319.00) on shares of Amgen in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Mizuho raised their price target on Amgen from $235.00 to $280.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Wells Fargo & Company reiterated an “equal weight” rating on shares of Amgen in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Johnson Rice set a $294.00 target price on shares of Amgen in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada cut their target price on shares of Amgen from $324.00 to $320.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $310.23.

Amgen Stock Performance

Shares of AMGN stock opened at $265.86 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $142.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 0.51. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $296.08 and a 200 day moving average price of $289.86. Amgen Inc. has a one year low of $253.30 and a one year high of $346.85. 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 released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The medical research company reported $4.90 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.18 by $0.72. Amgen had a return on equity of 176.32% and a net margin of 12.24%. The business had revenue of $8.15 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.05 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $3.96 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.4% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Amgen Inc. will post 20.62 EPS for the current year.

Amgen Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Investors of record on Friday, May 16th will be given a dividend of $2.38 per share. This represents a $9.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.58%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 16th. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 86.86%.

Insider Activity at Amgen

In related news, EVP Murdo Gordon sold 8,771 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $294.79, for a total value of $2,585,603.09. Following the completion of the sale, 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP David M. Reese sold 25,225 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $304.44, for a total value of $7,679,499.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 36,922 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,240,533.68. This represents a 40.59 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 42,707 shares of company stock worth $12,819,342. Company insiders own 0.69% of the company’s stock.

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.