Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership Makes New $8.80 Million Investment in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership purchased a new stake in shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 33,756 shares of the medical research company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,798,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Amgen by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 52,721,795 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $13,741,409,000 after purchasing an additional 339,522 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Amgen by 25.4% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 13,205,604 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $3,441,909,000 after buying an additional 2,672,975 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Amgen by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 12,122,889 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $3,893,771,000 after buying an additional 103,851 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Amgen in the fourth quarter worth $1,541,991,000. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB increased its position in Amgen by 40.7% during 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 acquiring an additional 676,598 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.50% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AMGN has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. StockNews.com upgraded Amgen from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, March 29th. Bank of America upped their target price on shares of Amgen from $275.00 to $294.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Piper Sandler Companies reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $310.00 price target on shares of Amgen in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Johnson Rice set a $294.00 price objective on Amgen in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Finally, Piper Sandler lifted their target price on Amgen from $310.00 to $329.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $314.04.

Amgen Stock Down 5.0 %

Shares of AMGN stock opened at $294.39 on Monday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $304.18 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $296.99. Amgen Inc. has a 52 week low of $253.30 and a 52 week high of $346.85. The stock has a market cap of $158.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.99, a PEG ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 0.53. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.62.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The medical research company reported $5.31 EPS for the quarter, topping 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%. Analysts predict that Amgen Inc. will post 20.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Amgen Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Investors of record on Friday, May 16th will be issued a $2.38 dividend. This represents a $9.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.23%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 16th. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 126.09%.

Insider Activity at Amgen

In other Amgen news, SVP Nancy A. Grygiel sold 1,589 shares of Amgen 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 completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 7,210 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,195,228.70. This trade represents a 18.06 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP David M. Reese sold 25,225 shares of the business’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 owns 36,922 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,240,533.68. This trade represents a 40.59 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 69,341 shares of company stock valued at $20,644,335. 0.69% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.