Torray Investment Partners LLC Acquires 47,969 Shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Torray Investment Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 394.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 60,127 shares of the medical research company’s stock after acquiring an additional 47,969 shares during the period. Amgen comprises 2.2% of Torray Investment Partners LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 14th largest holding. Torray Investment Partners LLC’s holdings in Amgen were worth $15,672,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Capital Performance Advisors LLP bought a new position in shares of Amgen during the third quarter valued at $25,000. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC bought a new position in shares of Amgen during the third quarter valued at $29,000. Centricity Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Amgen during the fourth quarter valued at $25,000. Synergy Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Amgen during the fourth quarter valued at $34,000. Finally, Heck Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Amgen during the fourth quarter worth $36,000. Institutional investors own 76.50% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AMGN has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company reiterated an “equal weight” rating on shares of Amgen in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Redburn Partners decreased their price objective on shares of Amgen from $200.00 to $195.00 in a research report on Wednesday, November 27th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their price objective on shares of Amgen from $305.00 to $285.00 in a research report on Wednesday, November 27th. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on shares of Amgen in a research report on Friday, November 15th. They set a “peer perform” rating for the company. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Amgen from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Amgen has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $314.09.

Amgen Stock Up 0.9 %

Shares of NASDAQ AMGN opened at $310.78 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $166.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.16, a P/E/G ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 0.56. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $281.80 and a 200-day moving average price of $299.73. Amgen Inc. has a 1 year low of $253.30 and a 1 year high of $346.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.62, a current ratio of 1.26 and a quick ratio of 0.95.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The medical research company reported $5.31 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.04 by $0.27. Amgen had a net margin of 12.24% and a return on equity of 176.32%. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Amgen Inc. will post 20.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Amgen Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th will be given a dividend of $2.38 per share. This is a positive change from Amgen’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.25. This represents a $9.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.06%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 126.09%.

Insider Activity at Amgen

In related news, EVP David M. Reese sold 25,225 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $304.44, for a total transaction of $7,679,499.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 36,922 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,240,533.68. This trade represents a 40.59 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Jonathan P. Graham sold 25,045 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $293.12, for a total transaction of $7,341,190.40. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 28,987 shares in the company, valued at $8,496,669.44. The trade was a 46.35 % 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. Corporate insiders own 0.69% 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.