Amgen Inc. to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $2.38 (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) announced a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, March 4th, RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 16th will be paid a dividend of 2.38 per share by the medical research company on Friday, June 6th. This represents a $9.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.03%.

Amgen has increased its dividend payment by an average of 8.5% annually over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 14 consecutive years. Amgen has a dividend payout ratio of 44.0% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Amgen to earn $21.39 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $9.52 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 44.5%.

Amgen Stock Up 0.8 %

NASDAQ AMGN traded up $2.50 on Wednesday, reaching $314.69. The stock had a trading volume of 104,386 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,536,659. The company has a current ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.62. Amgen has a 1 year low of $253.30 and a 1 year high of $346.85. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $282.76 and a 200 day moving average price of $299.66. The company has a market capitalization of $169.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.71, a P/E/G ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 0.56.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last released its quarterly 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 net margin of 12.24% and a return on equity of 176.32%. On average, analysts forecast that Amgen will post 20.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the company. StockNews.com downgraded Amgen from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $324.00 price target on shares of Amgen in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Truist Financial decreased their price objective on shares of Amgen from $333.00 to $298.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Citigroup reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of Amgen in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Bank of America upped their price target on shares of Amgen from $256.00 to $275.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $314.09.

Insider Buying and Selling at Amgen

In other news, SVP Nancy A. Grygiel sold 1,589 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $304.47, for a total value of $483,802.83. Following the sale, 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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP David M. Reese sold 25,225 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $304.44, for a total transaction of $7,679,499.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 36,922 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,240,533.68. The trade was a 40.59 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 69,341 shares of company stock valued at $20,644,335. 0.69% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Amgen

A hedge fund recently raised its stake in Amgen stock. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its holdings in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 23.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 27,468 shares of the medical research company’s stock after acquiring an additional 5,226 shares during the quarter. Brighton Jones LLC’s holdings in Amgen were worth $7,159,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period. 76.50% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.