First Fiduciary Investment Counsel Inc. Purchases New Shares in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

First Fiduciary Investment Counsel Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 16,176 shares of the medical research company's stock, valued at approximately $5,040,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Amgen by 0.6% during 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 acquiring an additional 339,522 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in Amgen by 25.4% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 13,205,604 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $3,441,909,000 after purchasing an additional 2,672,975 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Amgen by 2.9% during the 4th 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 purchasing an additional 352,143 shares during the period. Capital International Investors lifted its position in Amgen by 40.1% during the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 12,212,065 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $3,182,843,000 after purchasing an additional 3,495,503 shares during the period. Finally, Capital World Investors boosted its stake in shares of Amgen by 1,292.0% in the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 6,495,710 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $1,693,042,000 after purchasing an additional 6,029,058 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.50% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Amgen

In other news, SVP Rachna Khosla sold 1,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 now directly owns 8,162 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,364,368.16. This trade represents a 15.52% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.69% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently weighed in on AMGN. Royal Bank Of Canada cut their price objective on shares of Amgen from $324.00 to $320.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Guggenheim began coverage on shares of Amgen in a research report on Tuesday, May 20th. They set a "neutral" rating and a $288.00 target price for the company. Johnson Rice set a $294.00 price target on Amgen in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Erste Group Bank cut Amgen from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. Finally, Piper Sandler reissued an "overweight" rating and issued a $328.00 target price on shares of Amgen in a research note on Friday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given 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 price target of $307.82.

Amgen Stock Down 0.7%

Shares of AMGN stock opened at $277.13 on Monday. Amgen Inc. has a 12-month low of $253.30 and a 12-month high of $346.85. The company has a quick ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 1.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.70. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $281.02 and a 200-day moving average of $286.19. The company has a market capitalization of $149.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.29, a P/E/G ratio of 2.51 and a beta of 0.51.

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, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $4.18 by $0.72. The firm had revenue of $8.15 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $8.05 billion. Amgen had a return on equity of 176.11% and a net margin of 17.39%. The company's revenue was up 9.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company 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.

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