West Branch Capital LLC Cuts Stock Position in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

West Branch Capital LLC decreased its position in shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 3.3% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,392 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 47 shares during the period. West Branch Capital LLC’s holdings in Amgen were worth $434,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Ascent Wealth Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Amgen by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Ascent Wealth Partners LLC now owns 9,024 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $2,352,000 after purchasing an additional 64 shares in the last quarter. ICICI Prudential Asset Management Co Ltd grew its position 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. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of Amgen by 285.4% during the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 394,489 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $102,820,000 after purchasing an additional 292,137 shares in the last quarter. Aire Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Amgen by 26.3% during the fourth quarter. Aire Advisors LLC now owns 13,280 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $3,461,000 after purchasing an additional 2,762 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Beacon Harbor Wealth Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Amgen during the fourth quarter valued at about $3,531,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.50% of the company’s stock.

Amgen Stock Down 0.7%

Shares of NASDAQ AMGN opened at $295.22 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.62, a current ratio of 1.26 and a quick ratio of 0.95. The company has a market cap of $158.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.10, a PEG ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 0.51. Amgen Inc. has a 1 year low of $253.30 and a 1 year high of $346.85. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $281.33 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $285.58.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The medical research company reported $4.90 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.18 by $0.72. Amgen had a net margin of 12.24% and a return on equity of 176.32%. The firm had revenue of $8.15 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.05 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $3.96 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 9.4% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts anticipate that Amgen Inc. will post 20.62 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Rachna Khosla sold 1,500 shares of Amgen stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $289.68, for a total transaction of $434,520.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 8,162 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,364,368.16. The trade was a 15.52% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 0.76% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Erste Group Bank lowered Amgen from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. Bank of America lifted their price target on Amgen from $275.00 to $294.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “equal weight” rating on shares of Amgen in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price target 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, Guggenheim assumed coverage on Amgen in a research report on Tuesday, May 20th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $288.00 price target for the company. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $309.22.

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.