CENTRAL TRUST Co Reduces Stake in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

CENTRAL TRUST Co trimmed its position in shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 3.3% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 37,536 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 1,295 shares during the quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co’s holdings in Amgen were worth $11,694,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Tallon Kerry Patrick acquired a new position in shares of Amgen during the 4th quarter worth approximately $270,000. Brighton Jones LLC increased its position in Amgen by 23.5% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 27,468 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $7,159,000 after buying an additional 5,226 shares in the last quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. raised its holdings in shares of Amgen by 16.6% in the fourth quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. now owns 62,436 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $16,273,000 after acquiring an additional 8,895 shares during the last quarter. Principal Securities Inc. lifted its position in shares of Amgen by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Principal Securities Inc. now owns 13,612 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $3,548,000 after acquiring an additional 111 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Allworth Financial LP boosted its stake in shares of Amgen by 40.0% during the fourth quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 35,035 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $9,580,000 after acquiring an additional 10,002 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.50% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently weighed in on AMGN. Guggenheim started coverage on shares of Amgen in a research note on Tuesday, May 20th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $288.00 target price for the company. UBS Group reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $315.00 price objective (down previously from $319.00) on shares of Amgen in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their target price 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. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “equal weight” rating on shares of Amgen in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Mizuho increased their price target on shares of Amgen from $235.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 7th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $309.22.

Amgen Stock Performance

Amgen stock opened at $295.56 on Tuesday. Amgen Inc. has a 12-month low of $253.30 and a 12-month high of $346.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.62, a current ratio of 1.26 and a quick ratio of 0.95. The company has a market capitalization of $158.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 0.51. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $281.64 and its 200 day moving average price is $285.75.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The medical research company reported $4.90 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.18 by $0.72. The company had revenue of $8.15 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.05 billion. Amgen had a return on equity of 176.32% and a net margin of 12.24%. The business’s revenue was up 9.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $3.96 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Amgen Inc. will post 20.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Rachna Khosla sold 1,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $289.68, for a total value of $434,520.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 8,162 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,364,368.16. The trade was a 15.52% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.76% of the company’s stock.

About Amgen

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.