Victory Capital Management Inc. Raises Stock Holdings in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its position in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN - Free Report) by 15.4% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 950,893 shares of the medical research company's stock after buying an additional 126,602 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. owned 0.18% of Amgen worth $296,251,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in AMGN. Pinney & Scofield Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Amgen in the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. First Pacific Financial lifted its position in shares of Amgen by 304.5% in the first quarter. First Pacific Financial now owns 89 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 67 shares in the last quarter. Ritter Daniher Financial Advisory LLC DE lifted its position in shares of Amgen by 66.2% in the fourth quarter. Ritter Daniher Financial Advisory LLC DE now owns 128 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $33,000 after buying an additional 51 shares in the last quarter. Heck Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Amgen in the fourth quarter worth about $36,000. Finally, Legacy Investment Solutions LLC lifted its position in shares of Amgen by 46.9% in the fourth quarter. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC now owns 141 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $37,000 after buying an additional 45 shares in the last quarter. 76.50% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Amgen

In other news, SVP Rachna Khosla sold 1,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $289.68, for a total transaction of $434,520.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 8,162 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,364,368.16. This represents a 15.52% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.76% of the company's stock.

Amgen Stock Down 0.8%

NASDAQ AMGN traded down $2.40 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $295.85. 638,437 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,975,338. Amgen Inc. has a 52 week low of $253.30 and a 52 week high of $346.85. The company's 50-day simple moving average is $285.32 and its 200-day simple moving average is $288.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.70, a current ratio of 1.17 and a quick ratio of 0.88. The company has a market cap of $159.08 billion, a PE ratio of 27.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.70 and a beta of 0.49.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN - Get Free Report) last issued 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 firm had revenue of $8.15 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.05 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $3.96 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 9.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Amgen Inc. will post 20.62 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have issued reports on AMGN. Cantor Fitzgerald restated a "neutral" rating and set a $305.00 price objective on shares of Amgen in a research report on Tuesday, June 24th. UBS Group restated a "neutral" rating and set a $315.00 price objective (down from $319.00) on shares of Amgen in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Morgan Stanley restated an "equal weight" rating on shares of Amgen in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Mizuho upped their price objective on Amgen from $235.00 to $280.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 7th. Finally, Piper Sandler reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and set a $328.00 target price on shares of Amgen in a research note on Friday, June 27th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Amgen has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $307.82.

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.