BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp Grows Stake in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp increased its holdings in shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 15.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 102,891 shares of the medical research company’s stock after purchasing an additional 13,385 shares during the quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp’s holdings in Amgen were worth $26,818,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AMGN. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Amgen by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 52,721,795 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $13,741,409,000 after buying an additional 339,522 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in 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 worth $3,441,909,000 after acquiring an additional 2,672,975 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Amgen by 2.9% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 12,475,032 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $3,245,881,000 after acquiring an additional 352,143 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors boosted its stake in Amgen by 40.1% in the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 12,212,065 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $3,182,843,000 after acquiring an additional 3,495,503 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital World Investors boosted its stake in Amgen by 1,292.0% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 6,495,710 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,693,042,000 after acquiring an additional 6,029,058 shares in the last quarter. 76.50% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP David M. Reese sold 25,225 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 21st. The shares were 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $11,240,533.68. The trade was a 40.59% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.76% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently weighed in on AMGN shares. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their target price on Amgen from $324.00 to $320.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 2nd. StockNews.com upgraded Amgen from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Sunday. Citigroup reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Amgen in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Johnson Rice set a $294.00 target price on shares of Amgen in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Finally, Guggenheim began coverage on shares of Amgen in a research report on Tuesday. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $288.00 price target for the company. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $309.22.

Amgen Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:AMGN opened at $271.34 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $145.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.94, a P/E/G ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 0.51. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $288.67 and a 200-day simple moving average of $287.36. Amgen Inc. has a 52 week low of $253.30 and a 52 week high of $346.85. 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 quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The medical research company reported $4.90 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.18 by $0.72. Amgen had a return on equity of 176.32% and a net margin of 12.24%. The company had revenue of $8.15 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.05 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $3.96 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 9.4% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Amgen Inc. will post 20.62 EPS for the current year.

Amgen Announces Dividend

The business 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. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 16th. This represents a $9.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.51%. Amgen’s payout ratio is 86.86%.

Amgen Company Profile

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.