Amgen Sees Unusually Large Options Volume (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) saw some unusual options trading on Thursday. Investors purchased 320,232 call options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 2,412% compared to the average volume of 12,750 call options.

Key Headlines Impacting Amgen

Here are the key news stories impacting Amgen this week:

• Positive Sentiment: European Commission approval for Uplinza (amifampridine) for generalized myasthenia gravis expands Amgen’s labelled indications in Europe and supports incremental near-term revenue potential for the product. Amgen wins EC approval for Uplinza in gMG
• Positive Sentiment: Amgen announced an increase to its dividend to $2.52, which boosts yield and signals management confidence in cash flow — typically supportive for a large-cap, dividend-oriented stock. Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) Is Increasing Its Dividend To $2.52
• Positive Sentiment: Unusually large call-option activity (roughly 320,232 calls bought) points to short-term bullish positioning by some investors, which can amplify upside moves in the stock. (No source link provided in feed)
• Neutral Sentiment: Amgen will present at Citi’s 2026 Virtual Oncology Leadership Summit — a standard investor relations event that raises visibility on oncology programs but is not intrinsically catalytic. AMGEN TO PRESENT AT CITI’S 2026 VIRTUAL ONCOLOGY LEADERSHIP SUMMIT
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst notes are mixed: Argus reiterated a Buy with a $400 target while Guggenheim reaffirmed a Hold — this provides conflicting signals but keeps the stock in analysts’ focus. Here’s What Argus Research and Guggenheim Are Saying About Amgen Inc. (AMGN)
• Neutral Sentiment: Industry coverage (CNBC) on pharma’s resetting priorities — pricing, pipelines and patent cliffs — is a sector-level backdrop that could affect sentiment for large-cap drugmakers like Amgen but is not company-specific. Prices, pipelines and patent cliffs: Inside pharma’s big reset
• Neutral Sentiment: Recent entries on short interest in the data feed appear to be reporting zero shares / NaN changes (likely a reporting glitch) and do not signal a meaningful rise in short positioning. (No link provided)

Amgen Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ AMGN opened at $369.19 on Friday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $337.47 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $313.61. Amgen has a fifty-two week low of $261.43 and a fifty-two week high of $385.12. The company has a market capitalization of $198.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.94, a P/E/G ratio of 3.75 and a beta of 0.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.78, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a current ratio of 1.14.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 3rd. The medical research company reported $5.29 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.76 by $0.53. The company had revenue of $9.87 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.46 billion. Amgen had a return on equity of 148.37% and a net margin of 20.98%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 8.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $5.31 EPS. Amgen has set its FY 2026 guidance at 21.600-23.000 EPS. Analysts expect that Amgen will post 20.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Amgen Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 6th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 13th will be issued a $2.52 dividend. This represents a $10.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.7%. This is a boost from Amgen’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.38. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 13th. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio is presently 66.90%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Amgen news, SVP Nancy A. Grygiel sold 3,139 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $337.26, for a total value of $1,058,659.14. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 7,225 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,436,703.50. This trade represents a 30.29% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.76% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Amgen

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Amgen by 27,765.8% in the second quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 6,700,621 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,870,880,000 after purchasing an additional 6,676,575 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Amgen during the fourth quarter valued at $2,164,162,000. Capital World Investors increased its holdings in Amgen by 22.9% in the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 23,097,711 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $7,560,249,000 after buying an additional 4,302,237 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its position in Amgen by 4.4% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 30,591,403 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $10,012,872,000 after buying an additional 1,287,310 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Amgen by 7.8% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 14,303,294 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $4,665,822,000 after acquiring an additional 1,035,779 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 76.50% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently commented on AMGN shares. Oppenheimer set a $400.00 target price on Amgen and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Leerink Partners upped their price objective on shares of Amgen from $305.00 to $355.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 4th. Erste Group Bank raised shares of Amgen from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 5th. Daiwa Securities Group increased their price target on shares of Amgen from $370.00 to $410.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut Amgen from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, February 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have issued a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $354.04.

About Amgen

Amgen Inc (NASDAQ: AMGN) is a global biotechnology company founded in 1980 and headquartered in Thousand Oaks, California. The company focuses on discovering, developing, manufacturing and delivering human therapeutics that address serious illnesses. Amgen’s work centers on biologic medicines derived from cellular and molecular biology, with an emphasis on translating advances in human genetics and protein science into therapies for patients.

Amgen’s commercial portfolio has historically included biologics used in oncology, supportive care, nephrology, bone health and cardiovascular disease.