Verity & Verity LLC Buys 3,667 Shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Verity & Verity LLC grew its holdings in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 4.0% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 96,157 shares of the medical research company’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,667 shares during the quarter. Amgen comprises 2.6% of Verity & Verity LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 7th biggest holding. Verity & Verity LLC’s holdings in Amgen were worth $29,958,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in AMGN. Centricity Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Amgen in the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. Pinney & Scofield Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Amgen in the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. Ritter Daniher Financial Advisory LLC DE increased 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 acquiring an additional 51 shares during the last quarter. Synergy Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Amgen in the 4th quarter valued at about $34,000. Finally, Atala Financial Inc purchased a new position in shares of Amgen in the 4th quarter valued at about $34,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.50% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Amgen

In other Amgen news, SVP Rachna Khosla sold 1,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 5th. The stock was 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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.76% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Amgen Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:AMGN opened at $297.29 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $159.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.38, a P/E/G ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 0.51. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.62. Amgen Inc. has a 52 week low of $253.30 and a 52 week high of $346.85. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $281.03 and a 200-day simple moving average of $285.48.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The medical research company reported $4.90 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.05 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $3.96 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.4% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Amgen Inc. will post 20.62 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently issued reports on AMGN. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price target on Amgen from $324.00 to $320.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Erste Group Bank cut Amgen from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. Cantor Fitzgerald initiated coverage on Amgen in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. They set a “neutral” rating and a $305.00 price objective for the company. Piper Sandler decreased their price objective on Amgen from $329.00 to $328.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 16th. Finally, Bank of America increased their price objective on Amgen from $275.00 to $294.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Amgen currently has an average 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.