Freestone Capital Holdings LLC Reduces Position in Amgen Inc. $AMGN

Freestone Capital Holdings LLC reduced its position in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 10.3% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 10,465 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 1,198 shares during the period. Freestone Capital Holdings LLC’s holdings in Amgen were worth $2,922,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of AMGN. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its position in shares of Amgen by 23.5% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 27,468 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $7,159,000 after purchasing an additional 5,226 shares during the last quarter. Abel Hall LLC purchased a new position in Amgen in the 1st quarter worth about $232,000. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Amgen by 12.0% during the 1st quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,419,605 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $442,278,000 after buying an additional 152,514 shares in the last quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in Amgen by 6.5% during the 1st quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 24,113 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $7,512,000 after buying an additional 1,475 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Callan Capital LLC boosted its position in Amgen by 8.2% in the 1st quarter. Callan Capital LLC now owns 3,270 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,019,000 after buying an additional 247 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.50% of the company’s stock.

Amgen Price Performance

NASDAQ AMGN opened at $296.30 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.24, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a current ratio of 1.31. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $287.91 and its 200-day moving average price is $287.63. Amgen Inc. has a 52-week low of $253.30 and a 52-week high of $335.88. The company has a market cap of $159.52 billion, a PE ratio of 24.23, a P/E/G ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 0.49.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last released 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 net margin of 18.96% and a return on equity of 174.71%. The firm had revenue of $9.18 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.86 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $4.97 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 9.4% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Amgen Inc. will post 20.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Amgen Dividend Announcement

The firm 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. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 21st. This represents a $9.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.2%. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 77.84%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AMGN has been the topic of a number of research reports. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Amgen from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Amgen from $330.00 to $333.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 6th. Wall Street Zen lowered Amgen from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, October 27th. Raymond James Financial started coverage on Amgen in a research report on Wednesday, September 3rd. They set a “market perform” rating on the stock. 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 note on Monday, August 25th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $300.94.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Nancy A. Grygiel sold 1,267 shares of Amgen stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $296.99, for a total value of $376,286.33. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 7,209 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,141,000.91. The trade was a 14.95% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.76% 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.