First Manhattan CO. LLC. Sells 11,040 Shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

First Manhattan CO. LLC. decreased its position in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN - Free Report) by 9.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 101,750 shares of the medical research company's stock after selling 11,040 shares during the period. First Manhattan CO. LLC.'s holdings in Amgen were worth $26,520,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Capital World Investors lifted its stake in Amgen by 1,292.0% in the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 6,495,710 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $1,693,042,000 after acquiring an additional 6,029,058 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Amgen during the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,541,991,000. Capital International Investors increased its holdings in shares of Amgen by 40.1% during the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 12,212,065 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $3,182,843,000 after acquiring an additional 3,495,503 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Amgen by 25.4% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 13,205,604 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $3,441,909,000 after acquiring an additional 2,672,975 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Amgen during the 4th quarter worth approximately $401,913,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.50% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Mizuho increased their price target on shares of Amgen from $235.00 to $280.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 7th. Johnson Rice set a $294.00 target price on Amgen in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. StockNews.com lowered Amgen from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Saturday. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price objective on Amgen from $324.00 to $320.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Erste Group Bank downgraded Amgen from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $310.23.

Amgen Stock Down 3.1%

Shares of NASDAQ AMGN traded down $8.41 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $262.04. 2,094,653 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,774,583. The company has a market cap of $140.90 billion, a PE ratio of 34.71, a P/E/G ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 0.51. Amgen Inc. has a one year low of $253.30 and a one year high of $346.85. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $294.29 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $289.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.62, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 1.26.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The medical research company reported $4.90 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 return on equity of 176.32% and a net margin of 12.24%. Amgen's quarterly revenue was up 9.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $3.96 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that Amgen Inc. will post 20.62 EPS for the current year.

Amgen Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Investors of record on Friday, May 16th will be given a dividend of $2.38 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 16th. This represents a $9.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.63%. Amgen's payout ratio is 86.86%.

Insider Activity at Amgen

In other Amgen news, EVP David M. Reese sold 8,711 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $293.22, for a total value of $2,554,239.42. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 62,147 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $18,222,743.34. The trade was a 12.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 0.76% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Amgen 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.