Essex Savings Bank Has $960,000 Stake in Amgen Inc. $AMGN

Essex Savings Bank lessened its holdings in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 18.0% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 3,438 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 754 shares during the quarter. Essex Savings Bank’s holdings in Amgen were worth $960,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Brighton Jones LLC increased its position in shares of Amgen by 23.5% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 27,468 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $7,159,000 after acquiring an additional 5,226 shares during the last quarter. Forum Financial Management LP increased its position in shares of Amgen by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Forum Financial Management LP now owns 352,784 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $91,950,000 after purchasing an additional 2,411 shares during the last quarter. Novem Group bought a new stake in shares of Amgen during the 4th quarter worth $328,000. 49 Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Amgen by 23.1% in the 4th quarter. 49 Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,030 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $268,000 after buying an additional 193 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vise Technologies Inc. grew its position in Amgen by 33.7% during the fourth quarter. Vise Technologies Inc. now owns 5,582 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,455,000 after buying an additional 1,406 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 76.50% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on AMGN. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Amgen from $330.00 to $333.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 6th. Citigroup increased their price objective on Amgen from $305.00 to $310.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 6th. Raymond James Financial started coverage on Amgen in a research note on Wednesday, September 3rd. They issued a “market perform” rating on the stock. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $305.00 price target on shares of Amgen in a research report on Tuesday, June 24th. Finally, Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on Amgen from $328.00 to $342.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, August 25th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Amgen currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $304.43.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Nancy A. Grygiel sold 1,267 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $296.99, for a total transaction of $376,286.33. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 7,209 shares in the company, valued at $2,141,000.91. This represents a 14.95% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.76% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Amgen Trading Up 3.5%

Shares of AMGN opened at $285.41 on Friday. Amgen Inc. has a 1-year low of $253.30 and a 1-year high of $339.17. The company has a market capitalization of $153.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.34, a P/E/G ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 0.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.24, a current ratio of 1.31 and a quick ratio of 0.98. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $290.57 and its 200 day simple moving average is $290.66.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 5th. The medical research company reported $6.02 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.28 by $0.74. The firm had revenue of $9.18 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.86 billion. Amgen had a return on equity of 174.71% and a net margin of 18.96%.The company’s revenue was up 9.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $4.97 EPS. Amgen has set its FY 2025 guidance at 20.200-21.300 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Amgen Inc. will post 20.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Amgen Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 12th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 22nd were issued a dividend of $2.38 per share. This represents a $9.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.3%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 22nd. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio is currently 77.84%.

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.