Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) Shares Sold by Sentry Investment Management LLC

Sentry Investment Management LLC lessened its position in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 14.0% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 2,239 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 364 shares during the quarter. Sentry Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Amgen were worth $584,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in AMGN. Capital Performance Advisors LLP purchased a new position in Amgen in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Centricity Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Amgen in the fourth quarter valued at $25,000. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC purchased a new position in Amgen in the third quarter valued at $29,000. Heck Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Amgen during the 4th quarter worth $36,000. Finally, PrairieView Partners LLC increased its holdings in Amgen by 118.3% during the 4th quarter. PrairieView Partners LLC now owns 179 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $46,000 after purchasing an additional 97 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.50% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Nancy A. Grygiel sold 1,589 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $304.47, for a total transaction of $483,802.83. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 7,210 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,195,228.70. This represents a 18.06 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP David M. Reese sold 25,225 shares of Amgen stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $304.44, for a total transaction of $7,679,499.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 36,922 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,240,533.68. The trade was a 40.59 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 69,341 shares of company stock worth $20,644,335. 0.69% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Amgen Stock Performance

AMGN opened at $309.72 on Tuesday. Amgen Inc. has a 1-year low of $253.30 and a 1-year high of $346.85. The stock has a market cap of $166.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.02, a P/E/G ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 0.56. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $277.14 and its 200 day simple moving average is $300.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.62, a current ratio of 1.26 and a quick ratio of 0.95.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The medical research company reported $5.31 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.04 by $0.27. Amgen had a net margin of 12.24% and a return on equity of 176.32%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Amgen Inc. will post 20.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Amgen Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th will be paid a dividend of $2.38 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $9.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.07%. This is a positive change from Amgen’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.25. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 126.09%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently commented on AMGN. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on Amgen from $310.00 to $329.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, February 10th. William Blair reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Amgen in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Truist Financial reduced their price objective on shares of Amgen from $333.00 to $298.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $380.00 price objective on shares of Amgen in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $324.00 target price on shares of Amgen in a report on Friday, January 24th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $314.09.

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.