Sylvest Advisors LLC Sells 86 Shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Sylvest Advisors LLC trimmed its stake in shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 3.0% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 2,767 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 86 shares during the quarter. Amgen makes up 0.5% of Sylvest Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 28th biggest holding. Sylvest Advisors LLC’s holdings in Amgen were worth $862,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Pinney & Scofield Inc. purchased a new position in Amgen in the fourth quarter worth $26,000. First Pacific Financial boosted its position in Amgen by 304.5% in the first quarter. First Pacific Financial now owns 89 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 67 shares during the last quarter. Ritter Daniher Financial Advisory LLC DE boosted 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 worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 51 shares during the last quarter. Synergy Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in Amgen in the fourth quarter worth $34,000. Finally, Atala Financial Inc purchased a new position in Amgen in the fourth quarter worth $34,000. 76.50% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Amgen

In other Amgen news, SVP Rachna Khosla sold 1,500 shares of the company’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 transaction of $434,520.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 8,162 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,364,368.16. This represents a 15.52% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.69% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Amgen Price Performance

Amgen stock opened at $277.49 on Wednesday. Amgen Inc. has a 52 week low of $253.30 and a 52 week high of $346.85. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $281.03 and a 200 day simple moving average of $286.04. The company has a quick ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 1.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.70. The stock has a market cap of $149.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.32, a PEG ratio of 2.46 and a beta of 0.51.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The medical research company reported $4.90 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.18 by $0.72. The firm had revenue of $8.15 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.05 billion. Amgen had a return on equity of 176.11% and a net margin of 17.39%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $3.96 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Amgen Inc. will post 20.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have weighed in on the company. UBS Group reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $315.00 price objective (down previously from $319.00) on shares of Amgen in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Bank of America boosted their target price on Amgen from $275.00 to $294.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Mizuho boosted their target price on Amgen from $235.00 to $280.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 7th. Johnson Rice set a $294.00 target price on Amgen in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Finally, Erste Group Bank lowered Amgen from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $309.22.

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.