Invesco Ltd. Reduces Stock Holdings in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Key Points

• Invesco Ltd. reduced its stake in Amgen Inc. by 0.9%, selling 36,747 shares, and now holds approximately 3.85 million shares valued at over $1.19 billion.
• Major hedge funds, such as Capital World Investors and GAMMA Investing LLC, have significantly increased their positions in Amgen, indicating strong institutional interest in the stock.
• The recent earnings report showed Amgen exceeded expectations with $6.02 EPS for the quarter and reported a 9.4% year-over-year revenue growth.

Invesco Ltd. lessened its stake in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN - Free Report) by 0.9% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 3,850,501 shares of the medical research company's stock after selling 36,747 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. owned 0.72% of Amgen worth $1,199,624,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Pinney & Scofield Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Amgen in the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. First Pacific Financial boosted its stake in Amgen by 304.5% in the 1st quarter. First Pacific Financial now owns 89 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 67 shares in the last quarter. Heck Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Amgen in the 4th quarter worth approximately $36,000. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC boosted its stake in Amgen by 46.9% in the 4th quarter. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC now owns 141 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 45 shares in the last quarter. Finally, South Plains Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in Amgen in the 4th quarter worth approximately $37,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.50% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently commented on AMGN shares. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated a "neutral" rating and issued a $305.00 target price on shares of Amgen in a research note on Tuesday, June 24th. Royal Bank Of Canada lowered their target price on shares of Amgen from $324.00 to $320.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Erste Group Bank lowered shares of Amgen from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. William Blair reissued an "outperform" rating on shares of Amgen in a research report on Tuesday, June 24th. Finally, Piper Sandler reissued an "overweight" rating and set a $328.00 price target on shares of Amgen in a research report on Friday, June 27th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $303.76.

Insider Transactions at Amgen

In related news, SVP Rachna Khosla sold 1,500 shares of the company'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 sale, the senior vice president directly owned 8,162 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,364,368.16. This represents a 15.52% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.69% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Amgen Trading Up 0.7%

NASDAQ:AMGN traded up $1.94 on Wednesday, reaching $286.92. 116,560 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,875,935. The company has a quick ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 1.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.24. The firm has a market capitalization of $154.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.46 and a beta of 0.49. The business has a fifty day moving average of $293.07 and a 200-day moving average of $292.82. 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 issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The medical research company reported $6.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $5.28 by $0.74. The company had revenue of $9.18 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.86 billion. Amgen had a net margin of 18.96% and a return on equity of 174.71%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 9.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $4.97 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Amgen Inc. will post 20.62 earnings per share for the current year.

Amgen Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 12th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 22nd will be paid a dividend of $2.38 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 22nd. This represents a $9.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.3%. Amgen's dividend payout ratio is 77.84%.

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.