Snowden Capital Advisors LLC Cuts Position in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Snowden Capital Advisors LLC lowered its position in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 20.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 30,585 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 8,086 shares during the quarter. Snowden Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Amgen were worth $7,972,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Centricity Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Amgen in the fourth quarter valued at $25,000. 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 acquired a new stake in shares of Amgen during the 4th quarter worth about $34,000. Atala Financial Inc purchased a new stake in Amgen during the fourth quarter worth approximately $34,000. Finally, Heck Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Amgen in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.50% of the company’s stock.

Amgen Stock Performance

NASDAQ:AMGN opened at $271.69 on Friday. 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 fifty-two week low of $253.30 and a fifty-two week high of $346.85. The stock has a market cap of $146.09 billion, a PE ratio of 35.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 0.51. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $291.93 and its 200-day simple moving average is $288.58.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The medical research company reported $4.90 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.18 by $0.72. Amgen had a net margin of 12.24% and a return on equity of 176.32%. The company had revenue of $8.15 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.05 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $3.96 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 9.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that Amgen Inc. will post 20.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Amgen Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Investors of record on Friday, May 16th will be given a $2.38 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 16th. This represents a $9.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.50%. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio is presently 86.86%.

Insider Activity at Amgen

In other Amgen news, EVP David M. Reese sold 8,711 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $293.22, for a total value of $2,554,239.42. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 62,147 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,222,743.34. This represents a 12.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.76% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently commented on AMGN shares. Piper Sandler increased their target price on shares of Amgen from $310.00 to $329.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Erste Group Bank downgraded Amgen from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, May 8th. Citigroup reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Amgen in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating on shares of Amgen in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald assumed coverage on Amgen in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $305.00 price objective for the company. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $310.23.

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.