Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc. Trims Stake in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc. decreased its position in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN - Free Report) by 43.1% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 689,602 shares of the medical research company's stock after selling 522,932 shares during the quarter. Amgen makes up approximately 2.8% of Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc.'s portfolio, making the stock its 15th largest position. Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc. owned about 0.13% of Amgen worth $210,724,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Amgen by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 52,721,795 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $13,741,409,000 after buying an additional 339,522 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Amgen by 2.9% during 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 purchasing an additional 352,143 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors lifted its holdings in Amgen by 40.1% during 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 purchasing an additional 3,495,503 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors lifted its holdings in Amgen by 1,292.0% during 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 purchasing an additional 6,029,058 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in Amgen by 15.8% during 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 purchasing an additional 875,254 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.50% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Amgen news, SVP Rachna Khosla sold 1,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the senior vice president directly owned 8,162 shares in the company, 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 filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.76% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on AMGN shares. Guggenheim started coverage on Amgen in a research report on Tuesday, May 20th. They set a "neutral" rating and a $288.00 price target on the stock. Royal Bank Of Canada decreased their price objective on shares of Amgen from $324.00 to $320.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. William Blair reissued an "outperform" rating on shares of Amgen in a research note on Tuesday, June 24th. Erste Group Bank lowered Amgen from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reissued a "neutral" rating and set a $305.00 price objective on shares of Amgen in a research report on Tuesday, June 24th. 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. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Amgen currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $307.82.

Amgen Price Performance

NASDAQ:AMGN traded down $0.77 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $298.25. The stock had a trading volume of 1,724,736 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,839,989. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.70, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 1.17. Amgen Inc. has a 52 week low of $253.30 and a 52 week high of $346.85. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $284.80 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $288.65. The stock has a market capitalization of $160.37 billion, a PE ratio of 27.21, a PEG ratio of 2.70 and a beta of 0.49.

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. Amgen had a return on equity of 176.11% and a net margin of 17.39%. The company had revenue of $8.15 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.05 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $3.96 EPS. Amgen's quarterly revenue was up 9.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate 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.