Aberdeen Group plc Sells 126,680 Shares of Amgen Inc. $AMGN

Key Points

• Aberdeen Group plc recently reduced its stake in Amgen Inc. by 14.2%, selling 126,680 shares and now holds about 762,560 shares valued at approximately $238.25 million.
• Amgen's stock is currently rated as a Hold by analysts, with a consensus price target of $303.76 despite varied ratings ranging from sell to strong buy.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $2.38 per share, offering an annualized yield of 3.3%, with a dividend payout ratio of 77.84%.

Aberdeen Group plc reduced its stake in shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN - Free Report) by 14.2% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 762,560 shares of the medical research company's stock after selling 126,680 shares during the quarter. Aberdeen Group plc owned about 0.14% of Amgen worth $238,250,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Beck Mack & Oliver LLC raised its stake in shares of Amgen by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Beck Mack & Oliver LLC now owns 4,623 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $1,205,000 after purchasing an additional 34 shares in the last quarter. Continuum Advisory LLC grew its holdings in shares of Amgen by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Continuum Advisory LLC now owns 5,154 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $1,343,000 after purchasing an additional 35 shares in the last quarter. Octavia Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Amgen by 1.5% in the first quarter. Octavia Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,435 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $759,000 after buying an additional 35 shares in the last quarter. Affinity Capital Advisors LLC raised its position in Amgen by 4.5% in the first quarter. Affinity Capital Advisors LLC now owns 861 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $246,000 after purchasing an additional 37 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Accredited Investors Inc. raised its position in Amgen by 1.7% in the first quarter. Accredited Investors Inc. now owns 2,164 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $674,000 after purchasing an additional 37 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.50% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently commented on AMGN. Erste Group Bank cut Amgen from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated a "neutral" rating and issued a $305.00 target price on shares of Amgen in a research note on Tuesday, June 24th. Mizuho boosted their target price on Amgen from $235.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 7th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Amgen from $330.00 to $333.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Wednesday, August 6th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered Amgen from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, August 9th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have issued a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $303.76.

Insider Transactions at Amgen

In other Amgen news, SVP Rachna Khosla sold 1,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $289.68, for a total transaction of $434,520.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 8,162 shares in the company, valued at $2,364,368.16. This represents a 15.52% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.76% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Amgen Stock Performance

NASDAQ AMGN traded up $2.93 on Tuesday, hitting $295.55. 1,846,519 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,858,331. The company has a market capitalization of $159.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.17, a P/E/G ratio of 2.55 and a beta of 0.49. The company has a current ratio of 1.31, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.24. The business's 50 day moving average price is $293.35 and its 200-day moving average price is $293.15. Amgen Inc. has a 52-week low of $253.30 and a 52-week high of $339.17.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The medical research company reported $6.02 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.28 by $0.74. The company had revenue of $9.18 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.86 billion. Amgen had a return on equity of 174.71% and a net margin of 18.96%.Amgen's quarterly revenue was up 9.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $4.97 earnings per share. Amgen has set its FY 2025 guidance at 20.200-21.300 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Amgen Inc. will post 20.62 earnings per share for the current year.

Amgen Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 12th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 22nd will be issued a $2.38 dividend. This represents a $9.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 22nd. Amgen's payout ratio is 77.84%.

Amgen 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.