South Dakota Investment Council Sells 5,661 Shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

South Dakota Investment Council lowered its holdings in shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 12.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 38,494 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 5,661 shares during the period. South Dakota Investment Council’s holdings in Amgen were worth $11,087,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in Amgen by 1.7% during the third quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 11,658 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $3,133,000 after purchasing an additional 193 shares during the period. Diversified Trust Co grew its stake in Amgen by 76.8% in the fourth quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 37,695 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $10,857,000 after acquiring an additional 16,376 shares during the period. Nicolet Advisory Services LLC grew its stake in Amgen by 4.4% in the third quarter. Nicolet Advisory Services LLC now owns 2,805 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $745,000 after acquiring an additional 117 shares during the period. Platform Technology Partners grew its stake in Amgen by 7.4% in the third quarter. Platform Technology Partners now owns 5,830 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,567,000 after acquiring an additional 402 shares during the period. Finally, Traynor Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in Amgen by 9.5% in the fourth quarter. Traynor Capital Management Inc. now owns 18,941 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $5,455,000 after acquiring an additional 1,650 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.50% of the company’s stock.

Amgen Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ AMGN traded up $1.63 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $273.54. The company had a trading volume of 2,493,074 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,845,341. The company has a market capitalization of $146.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.90, a P/E/G ratio of 2.50 and a beta of 0.58. Amgen Inc. has a 1 year low of $211.71 and a 1 year high of $329.72. The company has a current ratio of 1.65, a quick ratio of 1.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 10.14. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $276.11 and its 200-day moving average price is $281.61.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 6th. The medical research company reported $4.71 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.66 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $8.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.13 billion. Amgen had a return on equity of 154.27% and a net margin of 23.83%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 19.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $4.09 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Amgen Inc. will post 19.45 earnings per share for the current year.

Amgen Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 7th. Investors 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 3.29%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 16th. Amgen’s payout ratio is 72.06%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have commented on AMGN shares. Truist Financial reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $320.00 price objective on shares of Amgen in a research note on Friday, April 12th. SVB Leerink cut Amgen from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $324.00 to $318.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 7th. Leerink Partnrs cut Amgen from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 7th. UBS Group dropped their target price on Amgen from $314.00 to $284.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 17th. Finally, TD Cowen dropped their target price on Amgen from $370.00 to $360.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 17th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $296.95.

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.