Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board Decreases Stake in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board reduced its position in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 6.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 14,703 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 1,076 shares during the period. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board’s holdings in Amgen were worth $4,235,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in AMGN. Briaud Financial Planning Inc bought a new position in shares of Amgen during the third quarter valued at approximately $26,000. BOK Financial Private Wealth Inc. bought a new position in shares of Amgen during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Planned Solutions Inc. bought a new position in shares of Amgen during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Amgen by 2,500.0% during the fourth quarter. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 104 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Providence Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Amgen during the third quarter valued at approximately $30,000. 76.50% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Amgen Stock Performance

Shares of AMGN stock traded down $5.44 on Wednesday, hitting $309.41. The company had a trading volume of 2,842,511 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,842,832. The firm has a market cap of $165.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 44.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.83 and a beta of 0.60. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $282.91 and a 200-day moving average price of $284.96. The company has a quick ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 1.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 11.96. Amgen Inc. has a twelve month low of $211.71 and a twelve month high of $329.72.

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

Amgen Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 7th. Investors of record on Friday, May 17th will be paid a $2.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 16th. This represents a $9.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.91%. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio is presently 128.57%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have commented on AMGN. TD Cowen reduced their price objective on Amgen from $370.00 to $360.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 17th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on Amgen from $313.00 to $350.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 7th. Leerink Partnrs downgraded Amgen from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 7th. Barclays upgraded Amgen from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $230.00 to $300.00 in a report on Friday, May 3rd. Finally, UBS Group raised their price objective on Amgen from $284.00 to $307.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $305.65.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Amgen news, SVP Nancy A. Grygiel sold 2,117 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $313.09, for a total transaction of $662,811.53. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 9,883 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,094,268.47. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.69% of the stock is owned by company 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.