Empirical Finance LLC Has $4.82 Million Position in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Empirical Finance LLC cut its holdings in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 1.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 18,507 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 247 shares during the quarter. Empirical Finance LLC’s holdings in Amgen were worth $4,824,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of Amgen by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 29,317,018 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $9,446,236,000 after acquiring an additional 345,537 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Amgen by 0.9% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 12,122,889 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $3,893,771,000 after purchasing an additional 103,851 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Amgen by 2.4% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 10,532,629 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $3,393,718,000 after buying an additional 251,876 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its holdings in shares of Amgen by 11.7% during the 3rd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 5,143,330 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,657,183,000 after buying an additional 538,545 shares during the period. Finally, Pathway Financial Advisers LLC grew its stake in Amgen by 33,125.4% in the 3rd quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 4,460,181 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,437,115,000 after buying an additional 4,446,757 shares during the last quarter. 76.50% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Amgen Trading Down 1.4 %

Shares of AMGN opened at $293.54 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.62. The stock has a market cap of $157.79 billion, a PE ratio of 38.88, a PEG ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.56. Amgen Inc. has a 1 year low of $253.30 and a 1 year high of $346.85. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $272.26 and a 200-day simple moving average of $303.21.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The medical research company reported $5.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.04 by $0.27. Amgen had a return on equity of 176.32% and a net margin of 12.24%. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Amgen Inc. will post 20.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Amgen Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be paid a $2.38 dividend. 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 3.24%. This is a boost from Amgen’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.25. Amgen’s payout ratio is 119.21%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Amgen 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 value of $483,802.83. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 7,210 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,195,228.70. The trade was a 18.06 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.69% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AMGN has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on shares of Amgen from $335.00 to $280.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 10th. UBS Group cut their price objective on Amgen from $335.00 to $326.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $324.00 target price on shares of Amgen in a report on Friday, January 24th. William Blair reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Amgen in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Finally, Leerink Partners reduced their price objective on Amgen from $349.00 to $302.00 in a research report on Wednesday, November 27th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Amgen currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $313.23.

About Amgen

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.