WASHINGTON TRUST Co Lowers Stock Holdings in Amgen Inc. $AMGN

WASHINGTON TRUST Co lessened its stake in shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 14.7% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 11,981 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 2,062 shares during the quarter. WASHINGTON TRUST Co’s holdings in Amgen were worth $3,345,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in AMGN. Wealth Preservation Advisors LLC bought a new position in Amgen in the 1st quarter worth about $25,000. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC bought a new position in Amgen in the 2nd quarter worth $27,000. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Amgen by 1,214.3% in the first quarter. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC now owns 92 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 85 shares in the last quarter. Activest Wealth Management grew its holdings in Amgen by 3,433.3% during the 1st quarter. Activest Wealth Management now owns 106 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $33,000 after buying an additional 103 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Quaker Wealth Management LLC grew its position in Amgen by 200.0% in the second quarter. Quaker Wealth Management LLC now owns 120 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $34,000 after acquiring an additional 240 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.50% of the company’s stock.

Amgen Trading Up 1.9%

Shares of NASDAQ AMGN traded up $6.26 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $342.54. 486,426 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,728,624. The stock has a market capitalization of $184.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.00, a PEG ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 0.45. Amgen Inc. has a twelve month low of $253.30 and a twelve month high of $345.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.24, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a current ratio of 1.31. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $292.73 and a 200 day simple moving average of $289.69.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, November 4th. The medical research company reported $5.64 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.01 by $0.63. Amgen had a net margin of 18.96% and a return on equity of 174.71%. The firm had revenue of $9.56 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.98 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $5.58 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 12.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Amgen has set its FY 2025 guidance at 20.600-21.400 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Amgen Inc. will post 20.62 earnings per share for the current year.

Amgen Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 12th. Investors of record on Friday, November 21st will be paid a $2.38 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 21st. This represents a $9.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.8%. Amgen’s payout ratio is presently 73.57%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on AMGN shares. Citigroup increased their price target on Amgen from $310.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 24th. Guggenheim increased their price objective on shares of Amgen from $288.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 6th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Amgen from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, November 8th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price objective on Amgen from $280.00 to $285.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised shares of Amgen from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $312.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Nancy A. Grygiel sold 1,267 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $296.99, for a total value of $376,286.33. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 7,209 shares in the company, valued at $2,141,000.91. This trade represents a 14.95% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.69% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.