abrdn plc Cuts Holdings in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

abrdn plc lowered its position in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 13.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 889,240 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 136,407 shares during the period. abrdn plc owned approximately 0.17% of Amgen worth $230,851,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. GEN Financial Management INC. acquired a new position in shares of Amgen during the 4th quarter worth about $652,000. Fourpath Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Amgen by 29.3% during the fourth quarter. Fourpath Capital Management LLC now owns 2,997 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $781,000 after buying an additional 679 shares during the period. Optas LLC boosted its stake in shares of Amgen by 15.6% in the fourth quarter. Optas LLC now owns 1,180 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $308,000 after purchasing an additional 159 shares during the period. Hodges Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Amgen by 18.8% in the 4th quarter. Hodges Capital Management Inc. now owns 18,621 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $4,853,000 after buying an additional 2,949 shares during the period. Finally, Rice Partnership LLC acquired a new position in shares of Amgen during the 4th quarter worth about $303,000. 76.50% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Bank of America restated an “underperform” rating and issued a $256.00 price target on shares of Amgen in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $380.00 price target on shares of Amgen in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. UBS Group lowered their target price on Amgen from $335.00 to $326.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on Amgen from $335.00 to $280.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Finally, TD Cowen lifted their price objective on shares of Amgen from $381.00 to $383.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $314.00.

Amgen Trading Up 1.2 %

AMGN opened at $288.87 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $155.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 0.56. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $271.06 and a 200 day simple moving average of $304.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.55, a current ratio of 1.32 and a quick ratio of 0.96. Amgen Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $253.30 and a fifty-two week high of $346.85.

Amgen Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be issued a dividend of $2.38 per share. This represents a $9.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.30%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. This is a boost from Amgen’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.25. Amgen’s payout ratio is 115.24%.

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.