Brown Advisory Inc. Reduces Stock Position in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Brown Advisory Inc. trimmed its position in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN - Free Report) by 66.7% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 120,449 shares of the medical research company's stock after selling 241,107 shares during the quarter. Brown Advisory Inc.'s holdings in Amgen were worth $37,526,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Amgen by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 52,721,795 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $13,741,409,000 after buying an additional 339,522 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Amgen by 2.9% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 12,475,032 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $3,245,881,000 after buying an additional 352,143 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors increased its stake in shares of Amgen by 40.1% in the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 12,212,065 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $3,182,843,000 after buying an additional 3,495,503 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors increased its stake in shares of Amgen by 1,292.0% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 6,495,710 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $1,693,042,000 after buying an additional 6,029,058 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in shares of Amgen by 15.8% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 6,431,029 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $1,676,183,000 after buying an additional 875,254 shares in the last quarter. 76.50% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other 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 value 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 $2,364,368.16. This represents a 15.52% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.76% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Amgen Stock Up 1.3%

AMGN traded up $3.85 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $300.37. 1,925,680 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,845,078. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.70, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 1.17. The company's fifty day moving average price is $282.95 and its 200 day moving average price is $287.50. The company has a market cap of $161.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.69 and a beta of 0.49. Amgen Inc. has a one year low of $253.30 and a one year high of $346.85.

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently commented on AMGN shares. Erste Group Bank lowered Amgen from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Amgen from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Sunday, May 18th. Royal Bank Of Canada lowered their price objective on Amgen from $324.00 to $320.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Mizuho lifted their price objective on Amgen from $235.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 7th. Finally, Guggenheim started coverage on Amgen in a research report on Tuesday, May 20th. They issued a "neutral" rating and a $288.00 price objective for the company. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Amgen has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $307.82.

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.