Mariner LLC Purchases 19,250 Shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Mariner LLC lifted its position in shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN - Free Report) by 2.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 914,380 shares of the medical research company's stock after purchasing an additional 19,250 shares during the period. Mariner LLC owned about 0.17% of Amgen worth $238,316,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Savvy Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in Amgen by 5.1% in the fourth quarter. Savvy Advisors Inc. now owns 42,940 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $11,192,000 after purchasing an additional 2,087 shares during the period. Synovus Financial Corp raised its position in shares of Amgen by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 65,729 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $17,137,000 after acquiring an additional 165 shares during the last quarter. Summit Investment Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in Amgen by 3.3% in the fourth quarter. Summit Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 23,291 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $6,071,000 after acquiring an additional 736 shares during the last quarter. Stamos Capital Partners L.P. raised its holdings in Amgen by 69.5% during the 4th quarter. Stamos Capital Partners L.P. now owns 6,730 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $1,754,000 after purchasing an additional 2,760 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Advisors Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Amgen by 6.2% in the 4th quarter. Advisors Capital Management LLC now owns 58,649 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $15,286,000 after purchasing an additional 3,427 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.50% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AMGN has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Bank of America upped their price target on shares of Amgen from $275.00 to $294.00 and gave the company an "underperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Wells Fargo & Company restated an "equal weight" rating on shares of Amgen in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Amgen from $315.00 to $319.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Amgen from $328.00 to $330.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Finally, Citigroup reissued a "neutral" rating on shares of Amgen in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $314.91.

Amgen Trading Down 1.9 %

Shares of Amgen stock traded down $5.35 during trading on Friday, reaching $277.29. The company's stock had a trading volume of 4,371,822 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,796,109. The company has a market cap of $149.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.73, a PEG ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 0.59. The firm's 50-day moving average is $303.04 and its two-hundred day moving average is $294.22. Amgen Inc. has a 52-week low of $253.30 and a 52-week high of $346.85. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.62.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The medical research company reported $5.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.04 by $0.27. Amgen had a net margin of 12.24% and a return on equity of 176.32%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Amgen Inc. will post 20.62 earnings per share for the current year.

Amgen Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 16th will be paid a dividend of $2.38 per share. This represents a $9.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.43%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 16th. Amgen's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 126.09%.

Insider Transactions at Amgen

In related news, EVP Jonathan P. Graham sold 25,045 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $293.12, for a total value of $7,341,190.40. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 28,987 shares of the company's stock, valued at $8,496,669.44. This trade represents a 46.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, EVP David M. Reese sold 8,711 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $293.22, for a total value of $2,554,239.42. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 62,147 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,222,743.34. This represents a 12.29 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 69,341 shares of company stock worth $20,644,335. Insiders own 0.69% of the company's stock.

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.