Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) Shares Sold by Byrne Asset Management LLC

Byrne Asset Management LLC lowered its stake in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 5.7% during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 1,133 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 68 shares during the quarter. Byrne Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Amgen were worth $353,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Centricity Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Amgen in the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. Pinney & Scofield Inc. acquired a new position in Amgen in the fourth quarter valued at about $26,000. Ritter Daniher Financial Advisory LLC DE lifted its position in Amgen by 66.2% in the fourth quarter. Ritter Daniher Financial Advisory LLC DE now owns 128 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $33,000 after buying an additional 51 shares during the last quarter. Synergy Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Amgen in the fourth quarter valued at about $34,000. Finally, Atala Financial Inc acquired a new position in Amgen in the fourth quarter valued at about $34,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.50% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently commented on AMGN shares. Guggenheim started coverage on shares of Amgen in a research note on Tuesday, May 20th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $288.00 price objective for the company. Erste Group Bank lowered shares of Amgen from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price objective on shares of Amgen from $324.00 to $320.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Mizuho raised their price objective on shares of Amgen from $235.00 to $280.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 7th. Finally, Johnson Rice set a $294.00 price objective on shares of Amgen in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Amgen presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $309.22.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Rachna Khosla sold 1,500 shares of Amgen 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 transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 8,162 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,364,368.16. The trade was a 15.52% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.76% of the company’s stock.

Amgen Stock Down 0.7%

AMGN stock opened at $295.22 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.62. Amgen Inc. has a twelve month low of $253.30 and a twelve month high of $346.85. The company’s 50 day moving average is $281.33 and its two-hundred day moving average is $285.58. The stock has a market cap of $158.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.10, a PEG ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 0.51.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The medical research company reported $4.90 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.05 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $3.96 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.4% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that Amgen Inc. will post 20.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.