Cassaday & Co Wealth Management LLC Reduces Stock Holdings in Amgen Inc. $AMGN

Cassaday & Co Wealth Management LLC decreased its position in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 6.7% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,469 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 251 shares during the period. Cassaday & Co Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Amgen were worth $969,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Amgen by 0.3% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 52,870,453 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $16,471,790,000 after purchasing an additional 148,658 shares during the last quarter. Royal Bank of Canada raised its position in shares of Amgen by 6.0% in the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 4,883,134 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,521,339,000 after buying an additional 274,488 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Amgen by 5.8% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 4,454,164 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,387,695,000 after buying an additional 243,306 shares in the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG raised its position in shares of Amgen by 1.6% in the first quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 3,266,009 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,017,525,000 after buying an additional 52,734 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in shares of Amgen by 0.8% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,020,545 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $940,989,000 after buying an additional 22,820 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.50% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Nancy A. Grygiel sold 1,267 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $296.99, for a total transaction of $376,286.33. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 7,209 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,141,000.91. This trade represents a 14.95% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.76% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on AMGN. UBS Group lowered their price objective on Amgen from $326.00 to $317.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, August 6th. Citigroup raised their price target on Amgen from $310.00 to $315.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 24th. Raymond James Financial began coverage on Amgen in a research report on Wednesday, September 3rd. They set a “market perform” rating on the stock. Bank of America raised their price target on Amgen from $261.00 to $272.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research report on Friday, September 26th. Finally, Piper Sandler raised their price target on Amgen from $328.00 to $342.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 25th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Amgen has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $300.94.

Amgen Stock Down 0.7%

Shares of NASDAQ:AMGN opened at $296.30 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $287.91 and its 200-day moving average price is $287.63. Amgen Inc. has a 12-month low of $253.30 and a 12-month high of $335.88. The stock has a market capitalization of $159.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 0.49. The company has a current ratio of 1.31, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.24.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 5th. The medical research company reported $6.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.28 by $0.74. Amgen had a return on equity of 174.71% and a net margin of 18.96%.The firm had revenue of $9.18 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.86 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $4.97 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Amgen Inc. will post 20.62 earnings per share for the current year.

Amgen Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 12th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 21st will be paid a dividend of $2.38 per share. This represents a $9.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 21st. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 77.84%.

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.