Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. Grows Stock Holdings in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. lifted its stake in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN - Free Report) by 4.5% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,667,373 shares of the medical research company's stock after purchasing an additional 72,545 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. owned 0.31% of Amgen worth $519,470,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of AMGN. Beck Mack & Oliver LLC increased its stake in shares of Amgen by 0.7% in 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 in the last quarter. Continuum Advisory LLC increased its stake in shares of Amgen by 0.7% in 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 in the last quarter. Octavia Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Amgen by 1.5% in 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 in the last quarter. Trillium Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Amgen by 4.2% in 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Affinity Capital Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Amgen by 4.5% in 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 in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.50% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of Amgen from $275.00 to $294.00 and gave the company an "underperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Morgan Stanley reiterated an "equal weight" rating on shares of Amgen in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated a "neutral" rating and set a $305.00 target price on shares of Amgen in a research report on Tuesday. Erste Group Bank lowered shares of Amgen from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. Finally, William Blair reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of Amgen in a research report on Tuesday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Amgen currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $307.82.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Rachna Khosla sold 1,500 shares of Amgen stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the senior vice president now owns 8,162 shares in the company, 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 SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.76% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Amgen Stock Down 0.7%

Amgen stock traded down $1.98 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $277.13. The stock had a trading volume of 2,894,198 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,833,059. The company has a market capitalization of $149.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.29, a PEG ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 0.51. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $281.02 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $286.02. Amgen Inc. has a one year low of $253.30 and a one year high of $346.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.70, a current ratio of 1.17 and a quick ratio of 0.88.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN - Get Free Report) last announced 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. The company had revenue of $8.15 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $8.05 billion. Amgen had a net margin of 17.39% and a return on equity of 176.11%. Amgen's revenue was up 9.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $3.96 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Amgen Inc. will post 20.62 EPS 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.