Schroder Investment Management Group Sells 29,597 Shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Schroder Investment Management Group lessened its position in shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 6.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 405,118 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 29,597 shares during the period. Schroder Investment Management Group owned 0.08% of Amgen worth $105,047,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Amgen by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 52,721,795 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $13,741,409,000 after purchasing an additional 339,522 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Amgen by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 29,317,018 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $9,446,236,000 after buying an additional 345,537 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Amgen by 25.4% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 13,205,604 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $3,441,909,000 after buying an additional 2,672,975 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Amgen by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 12,122,889 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $3,893,771,000 after acquiring an additional 103,851 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in Amgen during the fourth quarter worth $1,541,991,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.50% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company reiterated an “equal weight” rating on shares of Amgen in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. StockNews.com raised Amgen from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Saturday. Johnson Rice set a $294.00 target price on Amgen in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $324.00 price target on shares of Amgen in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Piper Sandler Companies restated an “overweight” rating and set a $310.00 price target on shares of Amgen in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Amgen presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $314.04.

Insider Activity at Amgen

In related news, EVP Jonathan P. Graham sold 25,045 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $293.12, for a total value of $7,341,190.40. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 28,987 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,496,669.44. This represents a 46.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP David M. Reese sold 25,225 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $304.44, for a total transaction of $7,679,499.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 36,922 shares in the company, valued at $11,240,533.68. This represents a 40.59 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 69,341 shares of company stock worth $20,644,335 over the last quarter. 0.69% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Amgen Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:AMGN opened at $306.95 on Monday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $301.08 and its 200-day moving average price is $297.94. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $164.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.66, a PEG ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 0.53. Amgen Inc. has a one year low of $253.30 and a one year high of $346.85.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The medical research company reported $5.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.04 by $0.27. Amgen had a return on equity of 176.32% and a net margin of 12.24%. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Amgen Inc. will post 20.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Amgen Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 16th will be paid a dividend of $2.38 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 16th. This represents a $9.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.10%. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 126.09%.

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.