St. Clair Advisors LLC Acquires Shares of 2,800 Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

St. Clair Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 2,800 shares of the medical research company's stock, valued at approximately $730,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of AMGN. Ascent Wealth Partners LLC increased its position in Amgen by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Ascent Wealth Partners LLC now owns 9,024 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $2,352,000 after purchasing an additional 64 shares during the last quarter. ICICI Prudential Asset Management Co Ltd increased its position in Amgen by 242.2% during the fourth quarter. ICICI Prudential Asset Management Co Ltd now owns 23,999 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $6,255,000 after purchasing an additional 16,985 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its position in Amgen by 285.4% during the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 394,489 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $102,820,000 after purchasing an additional 292,137 shares during the last quarter. Aire Advisors LLC increased its position in Amgen by 26.3% during the fourth quarter. Aire Advisors LLC now owns 13,280 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $3,461,000 after purchasing an additional 2,762 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Beacon Harbor Wealth Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in Amgen during the fourth quarter worth about $3,531,000. 76.50% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Piper Sandler cut their price objective on shares of Amgen from $329.00 to $328.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 16th. Erste Group Bank cut shares of Amgen from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. Cantor Fitzgerald initiated coverage on shares of Amgen in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. They set a "neutral" rating and a $305.00 price target for the company. Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of Amgen from $275.00 to $294.00 and gave the company an "underperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price target on shares of Amgen from $324.00 to $320.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $309.22.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP David M. Reese sold 25,225 shares of Amgen stock in a transaction on Friday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $304.44, for a total value of $7,679,499.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 36,922 shares of the company's stock, valued at $11,240,533.68. The trade was a 40.59% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.76% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Amgen Stock Up 0.2%

Amgen stock traded up $0.56 during trading on Thursday, reaching $271.90. The stock had a trading volume of 1,919,266 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,792,887. Amgen Inc. has a 52-week low of $253.30 and a 52-week high of $346.85. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $288.67 and a 200 day moving average price of $287.36. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.62. The stock has a market cap of $146.20 billion, a PE ratio of 36.01, a P/E/G ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 0.51.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly 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. Amgen had a net margin of 12.24% and a return on equity of 176.32%. The company 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 firm earned $3.96 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 9.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts predict that Amgen Inc. will post 20.62 EPS for the current year.

Amgen Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 16th will be issued a dividend of $2.38 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 16th. This represents a $9.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.50%. Amgen's payout ratio is currently 86.86%.

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.