41,191 Shares in Amgen Inc. $AMGN Bought by VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al

VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al purchased a new position in shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 41,191 shares of the medical research company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,501,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Signature Estate & Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in Amgen by 11.5% during the 2nd quarter. Signature Estate & Investment Advisors LLC now owns 6,216 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,736,000 after acquiring an additional 640 shares in the last quarter. Woodard & Co. Asset Management Group Inc. ADV raised its stake in Amgen by 5.0% during the 2nd quarter. Woodard & Co. Asset Management Group Inc. ADV now owns 9,808 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $2,738,000 after acquiring an additional 471 shares in the last quarter. Novare Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Amgen by 44.2% during the 2nd quarter. Novare Capital Management LLC now owns 979 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $273,000 after acquiring an additional 300 shares in the last quarter. CapWealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in Amgen by 5.0% during the 2nd quarter. CapWealth Advisors LLC now owns 36,867 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $10,294,000 after acquiring an additional 1,748 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Aspiriant LLC raised its stake in Amgen by 1.1% during the 2nd quarter. Aspiriant LLC now owns 4,411 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,232,000 after acquiring an additional 47 shares in the last quarter. 76.50% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have commented on the stock. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Amgen from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Sunday. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Amgen from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on shares of Amgen from $328.00 to $342.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 25th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Amgen from $330.00 to $333.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 6th. Finally, Bank of America lifted their price objective on shares of Amgen from $261.00 to $272.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research note on Friday, September 26th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $305.50.

Insider Buying and Selling at Amgen

In related news, SVP Nancy A. Grygiel sold 1,267 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $296.99, for a total transaction of $376,286.33. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 7,209 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,141,000.91. The trade was a 14.95% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.69% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Amgen Stock Up 1.0%

Shares of NASDAQ:AMGN opened at $298.81 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $160.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.43, a PEG ratio of 2.64 and a beta of 0.49. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $287.14 and its 200-day simple moving average is $286.99. The company has a quick ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 1.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.24. Amgen Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $253.30 and a fifty-two week high of $335.88.

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

Amgen Dividend Announcement

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 $2.38 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 22nd. This represents a $9.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.2%. Amgen’s payout ratio is presently 77.84%.

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.