Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management Raises Position in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management raised its position in shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 12.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 5,638 shares of the medical research company’s stock after purchasing an additional 637 shares during the quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management’s holdings in Amgen were worth $1,624,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of AMGN. FORVIS Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Amgen by 33.0% in the third quarter. FORVIS Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,543 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $684,000 after acquiring an additional 631 shares during the period. Kanawha Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Amgen during the 3rd quarter valued at $239,000. NBT Bank N A NY grew its holdings in shares of Amgen by 23.6% in the third quarter. NBT Bank N A NY now owns 4,277 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,149,000 after acquiring an additional 817 shares during the period. Keel Point LLC increased its position in Amgen by 7.1% during the third quarter. Keel Point LLC now owns 2,016 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $542,000 after acquiring an additional 134 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Graypoint LLC boosted its position in Amgen by 15.0% in the third quarter. Graypoint LLC now owns 4,694 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,261,000 after purchasing an additional 612 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.50% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AMGN has been the subject of several analyst reports. Raymond James started coverage on Amgen in a research note on Thursday, March 28th. They issued a “market perform” rating for the company. TD Cowen decreased their price target on Amgen from $370.00 to $360.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 17th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Amgen from $271.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. Leerink Partnrs cut shares of Amgen from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 7th. Finally, Truist Financial restated a “buy” rating and set a $320.00 price target on shares of Amgen in a research report on Friday, April 12th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Amgen currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $305.05.

Insider Activity at Amgen

In other news, SVP Nancy A. Grygiel sold 2,117 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 9,883 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,094,268.47. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.69% of the company’s stock.

Amgen Stock Performance

NASDAQ AMGN traded up $3.76 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $304.06. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 770,780 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,885,893. Amgen Inc. has a twelve month low of $211.71 and a twelve month high of $329.72. The firm has a market cap of $163.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.90, a P/E/G ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.60. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $275.65 and its 200-day moving average price is $281.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 11.96, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a current ratio of 1.42.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The medical research company reported $3.96 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.76 by $0.20. The business had revenue of $7.45 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.45 billion. Amgen had a return on equity of 156.21% and a net margin of 12.74%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $3.98 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Amgen Inc. will post 19.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Amgen Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 17th will be issued a $2.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 16th. This represents a $9.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.96%. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 128.57%.

About Amgen

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.