Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD Reduces Stock Position in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD reduced its stake in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN - Free Report) by 41.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 2,643,117 shares of the medical research company's stock after selling 1,903,289 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD owned 0.49% of Amgen worth $688,903,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Talbot Financial LLC grew its stake in Amgen by 5.6% in the fourth quarter. Talbot Financial LLC now owns 42,791 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $11,153,000 after purchasing an additional 2,274 shares during the period. Asset Advisors Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Amgen by 9.0% in the 3rd quarter. Asset Advisors Investment Management LLC now owns 35,934 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $11,578,000 after acquiring an additional 2,954 shares in the last quarter. Ascent Wealth Partners LLC lifted its position in Amgen by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Ascent Wealth Partners LLC now owns 9,024 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $2,352,000 after acquiring an additional 64 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in Amgen by 6.0% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 635,172 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $204,659,000 after acquiring an additional 35,785 shares in the last quarter. Finally, ICICI Prudential Asset Management Co Ltd increased its stake in shares of 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 valued at $6,255,000 after purchasing an additional 16,985 shares in the last quarter. 76.50% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently weighed in on AMGN. Truist Financial cut their price target on Amgen from $333.00 to $298.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Bank of America upped their price target on shares of Amgen from $275.00 to $294.00 and gave the stock an "underperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Wells Fargo & Company reiterated an "equal weight" rating on shares of Amgen in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Amgen from $328.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $324.00 target price on shares of Amgen in a report on Friday, January 24th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $310.57.

Insider Buying and Selling at Amgen

In other news, EVP David M. Reese sold 25,225 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $304.44, for a total transaction of $7,679,499.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 36,922 shares in the company, valued at $11,240,533.68. This trade represents a 40.59 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Nancy A. Grygiel sold 1,589 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $304.47, for a total value of $483,802.83. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 7,210 shares in the company, valued at $2,195,228.70. This represents a 18.06 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 69,341 shares of company stock valued at $20,644,335 in the last three months. 0.69% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Amgen Price Performance

NASDAQ:AMGN traded down $0.39 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $288.17. 491,882 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,777,796. The company has a market cap of $154.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 0.59. Amgen Inc. has a 1 year low of $253.30 and a 1 year high of $346.85. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $301.10 and a 200 day moving average price of $292.08. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.62.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The medical research company reported $5.31 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.04 by $0.27. Amgen had a net margin of 12.24% and a return on equity of 176.32%. Sell-side analysts forecast that Amgen Inc. will post 20.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Amgen Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 16th will be paid a $2.38 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 16th. This represents a $9.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.30%. Amgen's payout ratio is 126.09%.

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.