Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC Sells 21,974 Shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC lowered its holdings in shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 47.4% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 24,422 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 21,974 shares during the period. Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC’s holdings in Amgen were worth $7,609,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. Integral Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in Amgen during the first quarter worth about $291,000. Sarasin & Partners LLP boosted its stake in Amgen by 4.7% during the first quarter. Sarasin & Partners LLP now owns 557,540 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $173,702,000 after acquiring an additional 25,241 shares in the last quarter. Moseley Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in Amgen by 4.8% during the first quarter. Moseley Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,435 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $2,005,000 after acquiring an additional 296 shares in the last quarter. Nepsis Inc. boosted its stake in Amgen by 4.2% during the first quarter. Nepsis Inc. now owns 68,752 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $21,420,000 after acquiring an additional 2,780 shares in the last quarter. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its stake in Amgen by 348.5% during the first quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 47,798 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $14,891,000 after acquiring an additional 37,140 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.50% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

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 shares were sold at an average price of $289.68, for a total transaction of $434,520.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 8,162 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,364,368.16. This represents a 15.52% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.76% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. 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. Guggenheim assumed coverage on shares of Amgen in a research note on Tuesday, May 20th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $288.00 price objective on the stock. Erste Group Bank lowered shares of Amgen from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. Mizuho boosted their price objective 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. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald began coverage on shares of Amgen in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. They set a “neutral” rating and a $305.00 price objective on the stock. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Amgen has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $309.22.

Amgen Stock Up 1.2%

AMGN opened at $293.43 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.62. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $280.93 and a 200-day moving average price of $285.41. Amgen Inc. has a twelve month low of $253.30 and a twelve month high of $346.85. The stock has a market capitalization of $157.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.86, a PEG ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 0.51.

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

Amgen 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.