Dahring Cusmano LLC Buys New Stake in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Dahring Cusmano LLC bought a new stake in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm bought 3,303 shares of the medical research company’s stock, valued at approximately $861,000. Amgen comprises about 0.8% of Dahring Cusmano LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 19th largest position.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC boosted its stake in Amgen by 33,125.4% during the 3rd quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 4,460,181 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,437,115,000 after purchasing an additional 4,446,757 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its stake in Amgen by 263.8% during the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,038,593 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $270,699,000 after purchasing an additional 753,147 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its stake in Amgen by 40.7% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,338,665 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $609,526,000 after purchasing an additional 676,598 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 538,545 shares during the period. Finally, State Street Corp boosted its stake in Amgen by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 29,317,018 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $9,446,236,000 after purchasing an additional 345,537 shares during the period. 76.50% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on AMGN. 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 research note on Thursday, February 6th. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $380.00 price target on shares of Amgen in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Redburn Partners decreased their price target on shares of Amgen from $200.00 to $195.00 in a research note on Wednesday, November 27th. Wolfe Research began coverage on shares of Amgen in a research note on Friday, November 15th. They issued a “peer perform” rating for the company. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $324.00 target price on shares of Amgen in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Two equities 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $314.09.

Amgen Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ AMGN opened at $303.01 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $162.78 billion, a PE ratio of 40.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.55 and a beta of 0.56. Amgen Inc. has a 12 month low of $253.30 and a 12 month high of $346.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.62, a current ratio of 1.26 and a quick ratio of 0.95. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $276.27 and a 200-day simple moving average of $300.59.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The medical research company reported $5.31 earnings per share (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%. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Amgen Inc. will post 20.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Amgen Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced 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. This represents a $9.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.14%. This is an increase from Amgen’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.25. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. Amgen’s payout ratio is presently 126.09%.

Insider Activity at Amgen

In other Amgen news, EVP David M. Reese sold 25,225 shares of Amgen stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $304.44, for a total transaction of $7,679,499.00. Following the transaction, 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 sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Murdo Gordon sold 8,771 shares of Amgen stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $294.79, for a total transaction of $2,585,603.09. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 44,186 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,025,590.94. This trade represents a 16.56 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 69,341 shares of company stock worth $20,644,335. 0.69% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.