TCW Group Inc. Sells 53,965 Shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

TCW Group Inc. decreased its position in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 19.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 222,762 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 53,965 shares during the period. TCW Group Inc.’s holdings in Amgen were worth $58,061,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Lansing Street Advisors lifted its stake in Amgen by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. Lansing Street Advisors now owns 2,582 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $832,000 after acquiring an additional 32 shares in the last quarter. Unionview LLC increased its position in shares of Amgen by 3.8% during the 3rd quarter. Unionview LLC now owns 876 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $282,000 after purchasing an additional 32 shares during the last quarter. AM Investment Strategies LLC increased its position in shares of Amgen by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. AM Investment Strategies LLC now owns 7,471 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $2,407,000 after purchasing an additional 33 shares during the last quarter. Avidian Wealth Enterprises LLC increased its position in shares of Amgen by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Avidian Wealth Enterprises LLC now owns 5,863 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,889,000 after purchasing an additional 33 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Beacon Financial Advisory LLC increased its position in shares of Amgen by 4.6% during the 3rd quarter. Beacon Financial Advisory LLC now owns 769 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $248,000 after purchasing an additional 34 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors 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 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 in the company, valued at $2,195,228.70. This represents a 18.06 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, EVP David M. Reese sold 8,711 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $293.22, for a total value of $2,554,239.42. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 62,147 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,222,743.34. This represents a 12.29 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 69,341 shares of company stock worth $20,644,335 in the last ninety days. 0.69% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Amgen Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ AMGN opened at $303.01 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $276.27 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $300.40. The firm has a market cap of $162.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.13, a P/E/G ratio of 2.58 and a beta of 0.56. 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 Inc. has a one year low of $253.30 and a one year high of $346.85.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The medical research company reported $5.31 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.04 by $0.27. Amgen had a return on equity of 176.32% and a net margin of 12.24%. On average, equities analysts forecast that Amgen Inc. will post 20.6 EPS for the current year.

Amgen Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th will be given a dividend of $2.38 per share. This is an increase from Amgen’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.25. This represents a $9.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.14%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio is currently 126.09%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have weighed in on AMGN. Leerink Partners lowered their price target on Amgen from $349.00 to $302.00 in a research report on Wednesday, November 27th. Bank of America boosted their price target on Amgen from $256.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. UBS Group reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Amgen in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Citigroup reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Amgen in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Amgen from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Amgen has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $314.09.

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.