Argus Investors Counsel Inc. Trims Stock Position in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Argus Investors Counsel Inc. decreased its holdings in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 24.6% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 2,769 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 905 shares during the quarter. Argus Investors Counsel Inc.’s holdings in Amgen were worth $863,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of AMGN. Centricity Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Amgen in the fourth quarter worth approximately $25,000. Pinney & Scofield Inc. purchased a new position in Amgen during the fourth quarter worth approximately $26,000. Ritter Daniher Financial Advisory LLC DE boosted its holdings in shares of Amgen by 66.2% in the 4th quarter. Ritter Daniher Financial Advisory LLC DE now owns 128 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 51 shares during the last quarter. Synergy Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Amgen in the 4th quarter valued at $34,000. Finally, Atala Financial Inc purchased a new stake in shares of Amgen during the 4th quarter valued at $34,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.50% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AMGN has been the topic of several research reports. Piper Sandler cut their target price on Amgen from $329.00 to $328.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 16th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating on shares of Amgen in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. UBS Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $315.00 target price (down previously from $319.00) on shares of Amgen in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Amgen from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Sunday, May 18th. Finally, Johnson Rice set a $294.00 price target on shares of Amgen in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $309.22.

Amgen Stock Performance

NASDAQ:AMGN opened at $297.29 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $281.03 and a two-hundred day moving average of $285.48. 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 stock has a market cap of $159.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.38, 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.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The medical research company reported $4.90 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.18 by $0.72. Amgen had a return on equity of 176.32% and a net margin of 12.24%. The business had revenue of $8.15 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that Amgen Inc. will post 20.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Amgen

In other news, SVP Rachna Khosla sold 1,500 shares of the firm’s 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. This trade represents a 15.52% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.76% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.