Assenagon Asset Management S.A. Reduces Stake in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. reduced its stake in shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN - Free Report) by 95.0% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 32,305 shares of the medical research company's stock after selling 609,744 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A.'s holdings in Amgen were worth $10,065,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Centricity Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Amgen during the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. Pinney & Scofield Inc. purchased a new position in Amgen in the fourth quarter worth $26,000. Ritter Daniher Financial Advisory LLC DE increased its position in shares of Amgen by 66.2% during 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 purchasing an additional 51 shares during the last quarter. Synergy Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Amgen during the 4th quarter worth $34,000. Finally, Atala Financial Inc bought a new position in Amgen during the fourth quarter valued at about $34,000. 76.50% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Amgen Stock Up 0.2%

Shares of AMGN stock traded up $0.50 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $295.72. 959,926 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,813,347. Amgen Inc. has a 1 year low of $253.30 and a 1 year high of $346.85. The firm has a market cap of $159.01 billion, a PE ratio of 39.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 0.51. The company's 50 day moving average is $281.33 and its two-hundred day moving average is $285.66. The company has a current ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.62.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The medical research company reported $4.90 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.18 by $0.72. Amgen had a net margin of 12.24% and a return on equity of 176.32%. The company had revenue of $8.15 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.05 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $3.96 EPS. Amgen's quarterly revenue was up 9.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts predict that Amgen Inc. will post 20.62 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Johnson Rice set a $294.00 target price on shares of Amgen in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Cantor Fitzgerald initiated coverage on Amgen in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. They set a "neutral" rating and a $305.00 price target on the stock. Bank of America lifted their price objective on Amgen from $275.00 to $294.00 and gave the stock an "underperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Guggenheim initiated coverage on shares of Amgen in a report on Tuesday, May 20th. They set a "neutral" rating and a $288.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada cut their target price on shares of Amgen from $324.00 to $320.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $309.22.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Rachna Khosla sold 1,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 8,162 shares of the company's stock, 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 through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.76% 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.