Valley Brook Capital Group Inc. Increases Stake in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Valley Brook Capital Group Inc. increased its stake in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 7.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,730 shares of the medical research company’s stock after purchasing an additional 310 shares during the period. Amgen accounts for about 1.2% of Valley Brook Capital Group Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 26th largest position. Valley Brook Capital Group Inc.’s holdings in Amgen were worth $1,362,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Evergreen Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Amgen by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Evergreen Wealth Management LLC now owns 4,892 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,409,000 after purchasing an additional 84 shares during the period. Clearstead Trust LLC lifted its stake in Amgen by 129.6% during the 4th quarter. Clearstead Trust LLC now owns 1,240 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $357,000 after acquiring an additional 700 shares during the period. Connecticut Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Amgen by 17.1% in the 4th quarter. Connecticut Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,064 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $594,000 after acquiring an additional 301 shares during the last quarter. Ellerson Group Inc. ADV increased its stake in shares of Amgen by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Ellerson Group Inc. ADV now owns 11,275 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $3,247,000 after acquiring an additional 80 shares during the period. Finally, TCG Advisory Services LLC purchased a new position in shares of Amgen during the fourth quarter worth $562,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.50% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Nancy A. Grygiel sold 2,117 shares of Amgen stock in a transaction on Friday, May 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $313.09, for a total transaction of $662,811.53. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 9,883 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,094,268.47. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.46% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have commented on AMGN. SVB Leerink lowered shares of Amgen from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $324.00 to $318.00 in a report on Wednesday, February 7th. Truist Financial reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $320.00 target price on shares of Amgen in a report on Friday, April 12th. StockNews.com raised Amgen from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Amgen from $284.00 to $307.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $350.00 target price on shares of Amgen in a research note on Thursday, February 1st. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $305.05.

Amgen Price Performance

Shares of AMGN traded up $32.90 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $311.29. 9,644,682 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,279,398. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $274.95 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $281.46. Amgen Inc. has a 12-month low of $211.71 and a 12-month high of $329.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 10.14, a quick ratio of 1.13 and a current ratio of 1.65. The company has a market cap of $166.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.60.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The medical research company reported $3.96 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.76 by $0.20. The business had revenue of $7.45 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.45 billion. Amgen had a net margin of 12.74% and a return on equity of 145.62%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 22.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $3.98 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Amgen Inc. will post 19.46 earnings per share for the current year.

Amgen Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 17th will be issued a dividend of $2.25 per share. This represents a $9.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.89%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 16th. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio is currently 128.57%.

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.