Wedbush Securities Inc. Reduces Stock Holdings in Amgen Inc. $AMGN

Wedbush Securities Inc. lessened its holdings in shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 11.6% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 26,906 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 3,536 shares during the quarter. Wedbush Securities Inc.’s holdings in Amgen were worth $7,512,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AMGN. Harvest Portfolios Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Amgen by 9.3% in the second quarter. Harvest Portfolios Group Inc. now owns 201,801 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $56,345,000 after buying an additional 17,241 shares during the last quarter. Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc. raised its position in Amgen by 373.3% during the second quarter. Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc. now owns 4,842 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,352,000 after acquiring an additional 3,819 shares in the last quarter. Aspect Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Amgen by 70.8% in the second quarter. Aspect Partners LLC now owns 987 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $276,000 after acquiring an additional 409 shares during the period. Sterling Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Amgen by 47.0% in the second quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 39,452 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $11,015,000 after acquiring an additional 12,610 shares during the period. Finally, Nvwm LLC boosted its position in Amgen by 893.3% in the 2nd quarter. Nvwm LLC now owns 149 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $42,000 after purchasing an additional 134 shares in the last quarter. 76.50% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their target price on shares of Amgen from $405.00 to $400.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. Guggenheim raised their price target on shares of Amgen from $288.00 to $305.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday. Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of Amgen from $310.00 to $315.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 24th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Amgen from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating on shares of Amgen in a research report on Wednesday. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $308.83.

Amgen Stock Performance

Shares of Amgen stock opened at $320.20 on Friday. Amgen Inc. has a one year low of $253.30 and a one year high of $335.88. The company has a market cap of $172.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.18, a PEG ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 0.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.24, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a current ratio of 1.31. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $289.94 and its 200 day moving average price is $288.50.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, November 4th. The medical research company reported $5.64 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.01 by $0.63. Amgen had a net margin of 18.96% and a return on equity of 174.71%. The company had revenue of $9.56 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.98 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $5.58 earnings per share. Amgen’s quarterly revenue was up 12.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Amgen has set its FY 2025 guidance at 20.600-21.400 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Amgen Inc. will post 20.62 EPS for the current year.

Amgen Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 12th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 21st will be paid a $2.38 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 21st. This represents a $9.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.0%. Amgen’s payout ratio is presently 73.57%.

Insider Activity

In other Amgen news, SVP Nancy A. Grygiel sold 1,267 shares of Amgen stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $296.99, for a total value of $376,286.33. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 7,209 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,141,000.91. The trade was a 14.95% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.76% of the company’s stock.

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.