SVB Wealth LLC Invests $6.75 Million in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

SVB Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund bought 25,886 shares of the medical research company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,747,000.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of AMGN. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its holdings in shares of Amgen by 263.8% during the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,038,593 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $270,699,000 after buying an additional 753,147 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its holdings in shares of Amgen by 40.7% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,338,665 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $609,526,000 after purchasing an additional 676,598 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its holdings in shares of Amgen by 11.7% in the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 5,143,330 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,657,183,000 after purchasing an additional 538,545 shares during the period. Proficio Capital Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Amgen by 35,087.4% in the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 470,808 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $122,711,000 after purchasing an additional 469,470 shares during the period. Finally, State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of Amgen by 1.2% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 29,317,018 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $9,446,236,000 after purchasing an additional 345,537 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.50% of the company’s stock.

Amgen Stock Up 0.7 %

Shares of AMGN opened at $308.06 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $165.49 billion, a PE ratio of 40.80, a P/E/G ratio of 2.63 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 company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.62, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 1.26. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $280.87 and its 200-day simple moving average is $300.16.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last issued its earnings results 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 net margin of 12.24% and a return on equity of 176.32%. Analysts forecast that Amgen Inc. will post 20.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Amgen Increases Dividend

The company 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 is a boost from Amgen’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.25. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $9.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.09%. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 126.09%.

Insider Activity at Amgen

In related news, EVP Murdo Gordon sold 8,771 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $294.79, for a total value of $2,585,603.09. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 44,186 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,025,590.94. This trade represents a 16.56 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Nancy A. Grygiel sold 1,589 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the senior vice president now directly 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 69,341 shares of company stock valued at $20,644,335 over the last 90 days. 0.69% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AMGN has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of Amgen from $256.00 to $275.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Citigroup reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Amgen in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Leerink Partners dropped their price objective on shares of Amgen from $349.00 to $302.00 in a report on Wednesday, November 27th. Piper Sandler Companies reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $310.00 price objective on shares of Amgen in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Amgen from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $314.09.

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.