Virtu Financial LLC Cuts Position in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Key Points

• Virtu Financial LLC reduced its stake in Amgen Inc. by 89.5% during the first quarter, resulting in ownership of only 2,457 shares, valued at $765,000.
• Amgen recently declared a quarterly dividend of $2.38 per share, with an annualized yield of 3.3% and a payout ratio of 77.84%.
• Amgen reported a quarterly earnings of $6.02 per share, exceeding analysts' expectations, and has a projected consensus earnings of $20.62 for the current year.

Virtu Financial LLC lessened its stake in shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN - Free Report) by 89.5% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,457 shares of the medical research company's stock after selling 20,837 shares during the quarter. Virtu Financial LLC's holdings in Amgen were worth $765,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. KPP Advisory Services LLC lifted its stake in shares of Amgen by 87.1% in the 1st quarter. KPP Advisory Services LLC now owns 5,833 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $1,817,000 after purchasing an additional 2,716 shares in the last quarter. Advisor Resource Council acquired a new position in Amgen during the 1st quarter worth approximately $1,331,000. DLK Investment Management LLC lifted its position in Amgen by 7.3% during the 1st quarter. DLK Investment Management LLC now owns 20,491 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $6,384,000 after acquiring an additional 1,387 shares in the last quarter. Founders Financial Alliance LLC lifted its position in Amgen by 2.7% during the 1st quarter. Founders Financial Alliance LLC now owns 1,577 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $491,000 after acquiring an additional 42 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Stratos Investment Management LLC lifted its position in Amgen by 24.8% during the 1st quarter. Stratos Investment Management LLC now owns 21,382 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $6,662,000 after acquiring an additional 4,252 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.50% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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 value of $434,520.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly 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 legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.76% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Amgen Stock Performance

Shares of Amgen stock traded up $6.18 on Friday, hitting $296.47. The stock had a trading volume of 2,167,753 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,128,585. Amgen Inc. has a twelve month low of $253.30 and a twelve month high of $339.17. The business's 50 day moving average is $293.30 and its two-hundred day moving average is $292.96. The company has a quick ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 1.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.24. The stock has a market cap of $159.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.50 and a beta of 0.49.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The medical research company reported $6.02 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.28 by $0.74. The company had revenue of $9.18 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.86 billion. Amgen had a return on equity of 174.71% and a net margin of 18.96%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 9.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $4.97 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Amgen Inc. will post 20.62 EPS for the current year.

Amgen Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 12th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 22nd will be paid a dividend of $2.38 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 22nd. This represents a $9.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.2%. Amgen's dividend payout ratio is presently 77.84%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently commented on AMGN shares. Guggenheim began 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. Citigroup lifted their price objective on Amgen from $305.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, August 6th. Erste Group Bank downgraded Amgen from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, May 8th. William Blair restated an "outperform" rating on shares of Amgen in a report on Tuesday, June 24th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded Amgen from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, August 9th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $303.76.

Amgen Company Profile

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.