Peregrine Asset Advisers Inc. Increases Holdings in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Peregrine Asset Advisers Inc. lifted its position in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 25.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 3,500 shares of the medical research company’s stock after purchasing an additional 700 shares during the period. Peregrine Asset Advisers Inc.’s holdings in Amgen were worth $1,008,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of AMGN. OFI Invest Asset Management bought a new position in Amgen in the third quarter worth approximately $26,000. Briaud Financial Planning Inc bought a new position in Amgen in the third quarter worth approximately $26,000. BOK Financial Private Wealth Inc. bought a new position in Amgen in the fourth quarter worth approximately $29,000. Providence Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in Amgen in the third quarter worth approximately $30,000. Finally, Planned Solutions Inc. bought a new position in Amgen in the fourth quarter worth approximately $30,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.50% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AMGN has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $350.00 price target on shares of Amgen in a research report on Thursday, February 1st. Leerink Partnrs downgraded Amgen from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 7th. Truist Financial reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $320.00 price target on shares of Amgen in a research report on Friday, April 12th. SVB Leerink downgraded Amgen from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $324.00 to $318.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 7th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on Amgen from $336.00 to $355.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $305.05.

Insider Transactions at Amgen

In related news, SVP Nancy A. Grygiel sold 2,117 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $313.09, for a total value of $662,811.53. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 9,883 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,094,268.47. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 0.69% of the company’s stock.

Amgen Stock Performance

NASDAQ:AMGN traded down $11.81 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $299.48. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 4,717,087 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,915,562. Amgen Inc. has a 1 year low of $211.71 and a 1 year high of $329.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 11.96, a current ratio of 1.42 and a quick ratio of 0.98. The stock has a market cap of $160.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.78, a PEG ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.60. The business’s fifty day moving average is $275.21 and its two-hundred day moving average is $281.59.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The medical research company reported $3.96 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.76 by $0.20. Amgen had a net margin of 12.74% and a return on equity of 156.21%. The company had revenue of $7.45 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.45 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $3.98 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 22.0% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate that Amgen Inc. will post 19.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Amgen Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 17th will be paid a dividend of $2.25 per share. This represents a $9.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.01%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 16th. Amgen’s payout ratio is currently 128.57%.

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.