Golden State Wealth Management LLC Makes New $478,000 Investment in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Golden State Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm acquired 1,832 shares of the medical research company’s stock, valued at approximately $478,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new position in shares of Amgen in the 3rd quarter valued at $25,000. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC purchased a new position in Amgen during the 3rd quarter worth $29,000. Heck Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Amgen in the fourth quarter valued at $36,000. Livelsberger Financial Advisory acquired a new position in Amgen in the third quarter valued at $56,000. Finally, Icon Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Amgen by 3,955.0% during the third quarter. Icon Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 174,040 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $56,000 after buying an additional 169,748 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.50% of the company’s stock.

Amgen Price Performance

NASDAQ AMGN opened at $293.54 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $157.79 billion, a PE ratio of 37.59, a P/E/G ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 0.56. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $272.04 and a 200 day simple moving average of $303.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.55, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a current ratio of 1.32. Amgen Inc. has a twelve month low of $253.30 and a twelve month high of $346.85.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The medical research company reported $5.31 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.04 by $0.27. Amgen had a return on equity of 168.35% and a net margin of 13.00%. Research analysts anticipate that Amgen Inc. will post 19.56 EPS for the current year.

Amgen Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th will be issued a $2.38 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $9.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.24%. This is a positive change from Amgen’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.25. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 115.24%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have commented on AMGN shares. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $380.00 price objective on shares of Amgen in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on shares of Amgen in a research report on Friday, November 15th. They issued a “peer perform” rating on the stock. TD Cowen upped their price objective on shares of Amgen from $381.00 to $383.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Leerink Partners lowered their target price on shares of Amgen from $349.00 to $302.00 in a report on Wednesday, November 27th. Finally, Bank of America increased their price target on shares of Amgen from $256.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a report on Thursday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Amgen currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $313.23.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Nancy A. Grygiel sold 1,589 shares of Amgen stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $304.47, for a total transaction of $483,802.83. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 7,210 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,195,228.70. The trade was a 18.06 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.69% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Amgen Company 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.