Beacon Pointe Advisors LLC Decreases Position in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Beacon Pointe Advisors LLC trimmed its position in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN - Free Report) by 26.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 92,202 shares of the medical research company's stock after selling 33,386 shares during the quarter. Beacon Pointe Advisors LLC's holdings in Amgen were worth $24,032,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Centricity Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Amgen in the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. Ritter Daniher Financial Advisory LLC DE raised its holdings in Amgen by 66.2% in the 4th quarter. Ritter Daniher Financial Advisory LLC DE now owns 128 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $33,000 after acquiring an additional 51 shares in the last quarter. Synergy Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Amgen in the 4th quarter valued at $34,000. Atala Financial Inc acquired a new position in Amgen in the 4th quarter valued at $34,000. Finally, Heck Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Amgen in the 4th quarter valued at $36,000. Institutional investors own 76.50% of the company's stock.

Amgen Price Performance

Shares of AMGN traded down $7.14 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $283.78. 2,940,076 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,789,661. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $300.86 and a 200-day moving average of $292.08. Amgen Inc. has a one year low of $253.30 and a one year high of $346.85. The firm has a market cap of $152.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.59, a PEG ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 0.59. 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 - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The medical research company reported $4.90 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.18 by $0.72. Amgen had a return on equity of 176.32% and a net margin of 12.24%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $3.96 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 9.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Amgen Inc. will post 20.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Amgen Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Investors of record on Friday, May 16th will be given a $2.38 dividend. This represents a $9.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.35%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 16th. Amgen's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 126.09%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Piper Sandler Companies reissued an "overweight" rating and set a $310.00 price target on shares of Amgen in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Bank of America increased their price target on Amgen from $275.00 to $294.00 and gave the company an "underperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $324.00 price target on shares of Amgen in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Johnson Rice set a $294.00 target price on Amgen in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Finally, StockNews.com cut Amgen from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $310.57.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP David M. Reese sold 8,711 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 directly owns 62,147 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,222,743.34. This represents a 12.29 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, SVP Nancy A. Grygiel sold 1,589 shares of the company'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 transaction of $483,802.83. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 7,210 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,195,228.70. This trade represents a 18.06 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 69,341 shares of company stock worth $20,644,335. 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.