Amgen Inc. $AMGN Shares Bought by Salem Investment Counselors Inc.

Salem Investment Counselors Inc. lifted its stake in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 5.7% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 28,918 shares of the medical research company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,558 shares during the quarter. Salem Investment Counselors Inc.’s holdings in Amgen were worth $8,161,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Amgen by 1.6% in the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 53,711,570 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $14,996,807,000 after purchasing an additional 841,117 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its stake in Amgen by 0.6% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 29,357,026 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $8,196,775,000 after buying an additional 177,035 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Amgen by 2.3% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 13,018,617 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $3,619,489,000 after purchasing an additional 291,271 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in Amgen by 5.6% in the 2nd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 12,893,677 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $3,600,043,000 after buying an additional 687,735 shares during the period. Finally, Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in Amgen by 27,765.8% during the 2nd quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 6,700,621 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,870,880,000 after purchasing an additional 6,676,575 shares during the last quarter. 76.50% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Amgen Trading Up 0.4%

AMGN opened at $326.74 on Wednesday. Amgen Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $253.30 and a fifty-two week high of $346.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.45, a current ratio of 1.28 and a quick ratio of 0.99. The company has a market cap of $175.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.94 and a beta of 0.45. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $317.37 and a 200 day simple moving average of $299.50.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 4th. The medical research company reported $5.64 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.01 by $0.63. The business had revenue of $9.56 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.98 billion. Amgen had a return on equity of 162.59% and a net margin of 19.47%.The firm’s revenue was up 12.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $5.58 earnings per share. Amgen has set its FY 2025 guidance at 20.600-21.400 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Amgen Inc. will post 20.62 earnings per share for the current year.

Amgen Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 6th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 13th will be issued a dividend of $2.52 per share. This is a boost from Amgen’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.38. This represents a $10.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.1%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 13th. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio is presently 73.57%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have commented on AMGN. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Amgen from $300.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 10th. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on shares of Amgen from $329.00 to $304.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Amgen in a report on Monday. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating on shares of Amgen in a report on Tuesday, November 25th. Finally, Daiwa Capital Markets increased their price target on shares of Amgen from $310.00 to $370.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 18th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have given a Buy rating, ten have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $332.85.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Amgen news, SVP Rachna Khosla sold 890 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $336.24, for a total transaction of $299,253.60. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 7,082 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,381,251.68. This trade represents a 11.16% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Nancy A. Grygiel sold 3,139 shares of Amgen stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $337.26, for a total value of $1,058,659.14. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 7,225 shares in the company, valued at $2,436,703.50. This represents a 30.29% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 10,908 shares of company stock worth $3,674,966 over the last ninety days. 0.69% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.