KBC Group NV Boosts Stock Position in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

KBC Group NV boosted its position in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN - Free Report) by 20.6% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 292,344 shares of the medical research company's stock after purchasing an additional 49,909 shares during the quarter. KBC Group NV owned about 0.05% of Amgen worth $91,080,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Beck Mack & Oliver LLC raised its holdings in Amgen by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Beck Mack & Oliver LLC now owns 4,623 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $1,205,000 after purchasing an additional 34 shares during the last quarter. Continuum Advisory LLC raised its holdings in Amgen by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Continuum Advisory LLC now owns 5,154 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $1,343,000 after purchasing an additional 35 shares during the last quarter. Octavia Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Amgen by 1.5% during the first quarter. Octavia Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,435 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $759,000 after purchasing an additional 35 shares during the last quarter. Trillium Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in Amgen by 4.2% during the fourth quarter. Trillium Asset Management LLC now owns 911 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $237,000 after purchasing an additional 37 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Affinity Capital Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Amgen by 4.5% during the first quarter. Affinity Capital Advisors LLC now owns 861 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $246,000 after purchasing an additional 37 shares during the last quarter. 76.50% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on AMGN. Piper Sandler reissued an "overweight" rating and issued a $328.00 price target on shares of Amgen in a report on Friday. Guggenheim began coverage on Amgen in a report on Tuesday, May 20th. They issued a "neutral" rating and a $288.00 price target for the company. Johnson Rice set a $294.00 price target on Amgen in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Morgan Stanley reissued an "equal weight" rating on shares of Amgen in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Bank of America boosted their price target on Amgen from $275.00 to $294.00 and gave the stock an "underperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. 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 issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $307.82.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Amgen news, SVP Rachna Khosla sold 1,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated 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 owns 8,162 shares in the company, valued at $2,364,368.16. The trade was 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 this hyperlink. 0.76% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Amgen Price Performance

AMGN stock opened at $277.13 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $281.02 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $286.11. Amgen Inc. has a 12-month low of $253.30 and a 12-month high of $346.85. The company has a current ratio of 1.17, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.70. The company has a market cap of $149.02 billion, a PE ratio of 25.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.51 and a beta of 0.51.

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