Aveo Capital Partners LLC Decreases Stock Holdings in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Aveo Capital Partners LLC trimmed its stake in shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 55.0% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 945 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 1,157 shares during the period. Aveo Capital Partners LLC’s holdings in Amgen were worth $294,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AMGN. Brighton Jones LLC increased its holdings in Amgen by 23.5% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 27,468 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $7,159,000 after buying an additional 5,226 shares during the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC bought a new position in shares of Amgen in the fourth quarter worth approximately $17,996,000. Nicolet Bankshares Inc. boosted its position in shares of Amgen by 6.7% in the fourth quarter. Nicolet Bankshares Inc. now owns 1,327 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $346,000 after purchasing an additional 83 shares during the period. Townsquare Capital LLC boosted its position in shares of Amgen by 11.7% in the fourth quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 32,165 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $8,384,000 after purchasing an additional 3,371 shares during the period. Finally, Sagespring Wealth Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Amgen in the fourth quarter worth approximately $3,781,000. 76.50% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Amgen

In other news, SVP Rachna Khosla sold 1,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $289.68, for a total value of $434,520.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 8,162 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,364,368.16. This represents a 15.52% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.69% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on AMGN shares. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Amgen from $330.00 to $333.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 6th. Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $328.00 price target on shares of Amgen in a research report on Friday, June 27th. Guggenheim started coverage on shares of Amgen in a research report on Tuesday, May 20th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $288.00 price target for the company. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $305.00 price target on shares of Amgen in a research report on Tuesday, June 24th. Finally, Erste Group Bank lowered shares of Amgen from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $303.76.

Amgen Price Performance

Amgen stock opened at $288.23 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $155.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.57, a PEG ratio of 2.49 and a beta of 0.49. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $293.23 and its 200 day moving average is $292.81. The company has a quick ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 1.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.24. Amgen Inc. has a 52-week low of $253.30 and a 52-week high of $339.17.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The medical research company reported $6.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.28 by $0.74. The company had revenue of $9.18 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.86 billion. Amgen had a net margin of 18.96% and a return on equity of 174.71%. Amgen’s revenue was up 9.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $4.97 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Amgen Inc. will post 20.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Amgen Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 12th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 22nd will be paid a $2.38 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 22nd. This represents a $9.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.3%. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio is currently 77.84%.

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.