Avantax Advisory Services Inc. Raises Stock Position in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Avantax Advisory Services Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN - Free Report) by 7.2% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 93,240 shares of the medical research company's stock after buying an additional 6,266 shares during the quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc.'s holdings in Amgen were worth $29,049,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. KPP Advisory Services LLC grew its holdings in shares of Amgen by 87.1% during the first quarter. KPP Advisory Services LLC now owns 5,833 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $1,817,000 after buying an additional 2,716 shares during the last quarter. Advisor Resource Council purchased a new stake in shares of Amgen during the first quarter valued at approximately $1,331,000. DLK Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Amgen by 7.3% during the first quarter. DLK Investment Management LLC now owns 20,491 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $6,384,000 after buying an additional 1,387 shares during the last quarter. Mariner LLC grew its holdings in shares of Amgen by 2.2% during the fourth quarter. Mariner LLC now owns 914,380 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $238,316,000 after buying an additional 19,250 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Joseph Group Capital Management lifted its position in Amgen by 15.1% during the fourth quarter. Joseph Group Capital Management now owns 9,934 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $2,589,000 after purchasing an additional 1,301 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.50% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Rachna Khosla sold 1,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $289.68, for a total transaction of $434,520.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 8,162 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,364,368.16. This trade represents a 15.52% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 0.76% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AMGN has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Piper Sandler restated an "overweight" rating and set a $328.00 price objective on shares of Amgen in a research report on Friday, June 27th. Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of Amgen from $252.00 to $261.00 and gave the company an "underperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday. Cantor Fitzgerald restated a "neutral" rating and set a $305.00 price objective on shares of Amgen in a research report on Tuesday, June 24th. Guggenheim initiated coverage on shares of Amgen in a research report on Tuesday, May 20th. They set a "neutral" rating and a $288.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Amgen from $300.00 to $305.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $307.27.

Amgen Price Performance

Shares of AMGN stock traded down $1.97 on Friday, hitting $306.58. 1,451,093 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,935,961. The firm has a market cap of $164.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.97, a PEG ratio of 2.67 and a beta of 0.49. Amgen Inc. has a 52 week low of $253.30 and a 52 week high of $340.89. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $289.39 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $290.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.70, a current ratio of 1.17 and a quick ratio of 0.88.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The medical research company reported $4.90 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.18 by $0.72. The firm had revenue of $8.15 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.05 billion. Amgen had a net margin of 17.39% and a return on equity of 176.11%. The company's revenue was up 9.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $3.96 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Amgen Inc. will post 20.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.