Avidian Wealth Solutions LLC Cuts Stake in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Avidian Wealth Solutions LLC trimmed its position in shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 4.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,997 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 136 shares during the quarter. Avidian Wealth Solutions LLC’s holdings in Amgen were worth $863,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Amgen by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 11,658 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $3,133,000 after purchasing an additional 193 shares in the last quarter. Diversified Trust Co increased its holdings in Amgen by 76.8% in the fourth quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 37,695 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $10,857,000 after buying an additional 16,376 shares in the last quarter. Nicolet Advisory Services LLC lifted its position in shares of Amgen by 4.4% during the 3rd quarter. Nicolet Advisory Services LLC now owns 2,805 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $745,000 after acquiring an additional 117 shares during the period. Platform Technology Partners boosted its stake in shares of Amgen by 7.4% during the 3rd quarter. Platform Technology Partners now owns 5,830 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,567,000 after acquiring an additional 402 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Global Wealth Management Investment Advisory Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Amgen by 2.4% in the 4th quarter. Global Wealth Management Investment Advisory Inc. now owns 4,733 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,363,000 after acquiring an additional 109 shares during the period. 76.50% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Amgen from $271.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday. Leerink Partnrs lowered shares of Amgen from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 7th. Truist Financial restated a “buy” rating and set a $320.00 target price on shares of Amgen in a report on Friday, April 12th. TD Cowen reduced their price target on shares of Amgen from $370.00 to $360.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 17th. Finally, William Blair upgraded shares of Amgen from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Amgen presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $305.05.

Amgen Trading Up 11.8 %

Shares of AMGN traded up $32.90 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $311.29. The company had a trading volume of 9,644,682 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,279,398. Amgen Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $211.71 and a fifty-two week high of $329.72. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $274.95 and a 200-day simple moving average of $281.46. The stock has a market cap of $166.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.60. The company has a current ratio of 1.65, a quick ratio of 1.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 10.14.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The medical research company reported $3.96 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.76 by $0.20. The firm had revenue of $7.45 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.45 billion. Amgen had a return on equity of 145.62% and a net margin of 12.74%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $3.98 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Amgen Inc. will post 19.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Amgen Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 17th will be issued a dividend of $2.25 per share. This represents a $9.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.89%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 16th. Amgen’s payout ratio is currently 128.57%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Nancy A. Grygiel sold 2,117 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $313.09, for a total value of $662,811.53. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 9,883 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,094,268.47. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.46% of the company’s stock.

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.