Lincoln National Corp Grows Stock Holdings in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Lincoln National Corp grew its stake in shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 14.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 13,516 shares of the medical research company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,685 shares during the period. Lincoln National Corp’s holdings in Amgen were worth $3,893,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. OFI Invest Asset Management purchased a new stake in Amgen in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Briaud Financial Planning Inc purchased a new stake in shares of Amgen in the third quarter valued at $26,000. BOK Financial Private Wealth Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Amgen during the fourth quarter valued at $29,000. Providence Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Amgen during the 3rd quarter worth about $30,000. Finally, Planned Solutions Inc. acquired a new position in Amgen in the 4th quarter valued at about $30,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.50% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Amgen

In other 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 in the company, valued at approximately $3,094,268.47. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 0.69% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently commented on AMGN. Raymond James initiated coverage on shares of Amgen in a report on Thursday, March 28th. They set a “market perform” rating for the company. Barclays upgraded Amgen from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $230.00 to $300.00 in a report on Friday. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on Amgen from $313.00 to $350.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 7th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Amgen from $271.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on Amgen from $336.00 to $355.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $305.05.

Amgen Stock Up 0.3 %

Amgen stock traded up $0.82 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $300.30. 2,452,073 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,910,303. The company has a market cap of $161.07 billion, a PE ratio of 42.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.60. Amgen Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $211.71 and a fifty-two week high of $329.72. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $275.21 and its 200-day moving average price is $281.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 11.96, a current ratio of 1.42 and a quick ratio of 0.98.

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

Amgen Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 7th. Investors of record on Friday, May 17th will be issued a $2.25 dividend. This represents a $9.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.00%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 16th. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio is currently 128.57%.

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.