Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) Stock Price Down 2.7% on Insider Selling

Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)’s share price fell 2.7% during mid-day trading on Monday after an insider sold shares in the company. The stock traded as low as $301.09 and last traded at $302.91. 971,665 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 66% from the average session volume of 2,868,695 shares. The stock had previously closed at $311.29.

Specifically, SVP Nancy A. Grygiel sold 2,117 shares of Amgen stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $313.09, for a total value of $662,811.53. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 9,883 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,094,268.47. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.69% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Amgen from $284.00 to $307.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. SVB Leerink downgraded Amgen from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and decreased their price target for the company from $324.00 to $318.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 7th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on Amgen from $336.00 to $355.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $350.00 price objective on shares of Amgen in a report on Thursday, February 1st. Finally, Raymond James began coverage on shares of Amgen in a research note on Thursday, March 28th. They issued a “market perform” rating for the company. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $305.05.

Amgen Stock Performance

The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $275.65 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $281.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 11.96, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a current ratio of 1.42. The stock has a market capitalization of $161.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 42.90, a PEG ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.60.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The medical research company reported $3.96 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.76 by $0.20. The company had revenue of $7.45 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.45 billion. Amgen had a return on equity of 156.21% and a net margin of 12.74%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $3.98 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Amgen Inc. will post 19.46 EPS for the current year.

Amgen Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 17th will be given a dividend of $2.25 per share. This represents a $9.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.00%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 16th. Amgen’s payout ratio is 128.57%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Amgen

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Amgen during the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,556,912,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in Amgen during the fourth quarter worth approximately $4,589,900,000. Capital Wealth Planning LLC grew its position in Amgen by 28,684.1% during the first quarter. Capital Wealth Planning LLC now owns 833,300 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $236,924,000 after buying an additional 830,405 shares in the last quarter. Royal Bank of Canada increased its stake in Amgen by 14.8% during the 4th quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 5,831,624 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,679,625,000 after acquiring an additional 751,947 shares during the period. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its holdings in Amgen by 486.6% in the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 899,232 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $258,997,000 after acquiring an additional 745,929 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.50% of the company’s stock.

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.