Ensign Peak Advisors Inc Has $87.59 Million Stock Holdings in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Ensign Peak Advisors Inc lifted its stake in shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN - Free Report) by 25.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 336,055 shares of the medical research company's stock after purchasing an additional 68,990 shares during the quarter. Ensign Peak Advisors Inc owned about 0.06% of Amgen worth $87,589,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Centricity Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Amgen in the fourth quarter worth $25,000. Ritter Daniher Financial Advisory LLC DE lifted its holdings in Amgen by 66.2% in the fourth quarter. Ritter Daniher Financial Advisory LLC DE now owns 128 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 51 shares during the period. Synergy Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Amgen in the 4th quarter valued at about $34,000. Atala Financial Inc acquired a new position in Amgen during the 4th quarter valued at about $34,000. Finally, Heck Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Amgen during the 4th quarter worth about $36,000. Institutional investors own 76.50% of the company's stock.

Amgen Trading Down 1.6%

Shares of NASDAQ AMGN traded down $4.31 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $270.45. 2,655,241 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,776,943. 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 Inc. has a 12 month low of $253.30 and a 12 month high of $346.85. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $295.24 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $289.21. The company has a market capitalization of $145.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.82, a P/E/G ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 0.51.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data 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%. The business had revenue of $8.15 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $8.05 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $3.96 EPS. Amgen's revenue for the quarter was up 9.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Amgen Inc. will post 20.62 EPS for the current year.

Amgen Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 16th will be issued a $2.38 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 16th. This represents a $9.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.52%. Amgen's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 86.86%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently weighed in on AMGN shares. Mizuho raised their target price on Amgen from $235.00 to $280.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 7th. Wells Fargo & Company restated an "equal weight" rating on shares of Amgen in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Citigroup reaffirmed a "neutral" rating on shares of Amgen in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Johnson Rice set a $294.00 price objective on Amgen in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Finally, Erste Group Bank cut Amgen from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, May 8th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $310.23.

Insider Transactions at Amgen

In other Amgen news, EVP David M. Reese sold 25,225 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $304.44, for a total transaction of $7,679,499.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 36,922 shares of the company's stock, valued at $11,240,533.68. This represents a 40.59% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.76% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.