Sterling Investment Advisors Ltd. Sells 98 Shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Sterling Investment Advisors Ltd. decreased its holdings in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 0.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 12,767 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 98 shares during the period. Sterling Investment Advisors Ltd.’s holdings in Amgen were worth $3,328,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Capital Performance Advisors LLP bought a new stake in shares of Amgen in the 3rd quarter worth $25,000. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC bought a new stake in shares of Amgen in the 3rd quarter worth $29,000. Centricity Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Amgen in the fourth quarter worth $25,000. Heck Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Amgen in the fourth quarter worth $36,000. Finally, Kennebec Savings Bank bought a new stake in shares of Amgen in the third quarter worth $57,000. Institutional investors own 76.50% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AMGN has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their price objective on Amgen from $305.00 to $285.00 in a report on Wednesday, November 27th. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on Amgen in a report on Friday, November 15th. They issued a “peer perform” rating for the company. Redburn Partners cut their price objective on Amgen from $200.00 to $195.00 in a report on Wednesday, November 27th. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $380.00 price objective on shares of Amgen in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Finally, Bank of America lifted their price objective on Amgen from $256.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $314.09.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Amgen news, EVP Murdo Gordon sold 8,771 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 44,186 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,025,590.94. The trade was a 16.56 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Nancy A. Grygiel sold 1,589 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $304.47, for a total value of $483,802.83. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 7,210 shares in the company, valued at $2,195,228.70. The trade was a 18.06 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 69,341 shares of company stock valued at $20,644,335 over the last ninety days. 0.69% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Amgen Trading Up 2.2 %

Shares of AMGN stock opened at $309.72 on Tuesday. Amgen Inc. has a 12-month low of $253.30 and a 12-month high of $346.85. The company has a current ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.62. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $277.14 and its 200-day moving average price is $300.20. The stock has a market capitalization of $166.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 0.56.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The medical research company reported $5.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.04 by $0.27. Amgen had a return on equity of 176.32% and a net margin of 12.24%. Equities research analysts predict that Amgen Inc. will post 20.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Amgen Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be paid a dividend of $2.38 per share. This is a boost from Amgen’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.25. This represents a $9.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.07%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. Amgen’s payout ratio is presently 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.