Principal Financial Group Inc. Purchases 18,791 Shares of Amgen Inc. $AMGN

Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its position in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 3.2% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 611,351 shares of the medical research company’s stock after purchasing an additional 18,791 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Amgen were worth $200,101,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Capital World Investors grew its holdings in shares of Amgen by 11.5% in the third quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 18,795,474 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $5,303,578,000 after acquiring an additional 1,935,876 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Amgen by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 54,838,826 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $17,949,296,000 after acquiring an additional 961,975 shares during the period. National Bank of Canada FI boosted its position in Amgen by 237.7% in the third quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 1,226,372 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $346,076,000 after purchasing an additional 863,216 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its position in Amgen by 71.8% in the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,358,092 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $383,254,000 after purchasing an additional 567,400 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its stake in Amgen by 91.6% in the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 785,284 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $221,607,000 after purchasing an additional 375,463 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 76.50% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AMGN has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Piper Sandler raised their target price on Amgen from $381.00 to $432.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 18th. Truist Financial increased their price target on shares of Amgen from $325.00 to $327.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Leerink Partners restated a “market perform” rating and set a $355.00 price objective on shares of Amgen in a report on Thursday, March 5th. Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of Amgen from $315.00 to $345.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 4th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on shares of Amgen in a research note on Tuesday, March 10th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $350.00 target price on the stock. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $357.12.

Key Headlines Impacting Amgen

Here are the key news stories impacting Amgen this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Amgen announced a $300 million additional U.S. manufacturing investment (Puerto Rico) to expand biologics capacity and strengthen supply-chain resilience; investors tend to see such capital spending as supportive of long-term growth and reliability. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Erste Group reaffirmed a “hold” rating on AMGN, signaling no change in near-term analyst conviction and limiting directional impact from that broker. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Market/sector headwinds: healthcare stocks were softer in recent trading sessions, a background factor that can mute upside for AMGN even as company-specific news emerges. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Competitive risk: Viridian Therapeutics reported encouraging results for its chronic thyroid eye disease program, a potential rival to Amgen’s Tepezza — the data lifted Viridian shares and raises the probability of increased market competition for Tepezza sales over time. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Guggenheim trimmed its price target on AMGN to $340 (from $351) while keeping a Neutral rating — a modest lowering of upside that can cap near-term analyst-driven buying. Article Title

Insider Activity at Amgen

In related news, SVP Nancy A. Grygiel sold 1,237 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $323.73, for a total transaction of $400,454.01. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 7,009 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,269,023.57. This represents a 15.00% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.85% of the company’s stock.

Amgen Stock Up 1.8%

AMGN stock opened at $329.59 on Wednesday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $357.16 and a 200-day moving average of $341.35. Amgen Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $261.43 and a fifty-two week high of $391.29. The company has a market capitalization of $177.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.94, a PEG ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.65, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a current ratio of 1.26.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 30th. The medical research company reported $5.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.77 by $0.38. The business had revenue of $8.62 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.58 billion. Amgen had a return on equity of 137.41% and a net margin of 20.96%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 5.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $4.90 EPS. Amgen has set its FY 2026 guidance at 21.700-23.100 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Amgen Inc. will post 22.45 earnings per share for the current year.

Amgen Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 5th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 15th will be given a $2.52 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 15th. This represents a $10.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.1%. Amgen’s payout ratio is 70.15%.

Amgen Company Profile

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.