First County Bank CT Trims Stake in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

First County Bank CT decreased its stake in shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 8.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 5,953 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 529 shares during the period. Amgen accounts for 0.9% of First County Bank CT’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 28th biggest position. First County Bank CT’s holdings in Amgen were worth $1,552,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Lantz Financial LLC lifted its position in Amgen by 5.1% during the second quarter. Lantz Financial LLC now owns 1,779 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $556,000 after buying an additional 87 shares during the period. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC purchased a new position in Amgen during the second quarter worth approximately $26,000. Certuity LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Amgen by 72.7% in the 2nd quarter. Certuity LLC now owns 2,249 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $703,000 after purchasing an additional 947 shares during the last quarter. HCR Wealth Advisors grew its stake in shares of Amgen by 3.3% during the 2nd quarter. HCR Wealth Advisors now owns 4,761 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,488,000 after buying an additional 152 shares during the period. Finally, Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC grew its position in Amgen by 2.5% during the second quarter. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC now owns 83,206 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $25,998,000 after acquiring an additional 2,065 shares during the period. 76.50% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently weighed in on AMGN. TD Cowen lifted their price objective on Amgen from $381.00 to $383.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. William Blair restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Amgen in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Sanford C. Bernstein assumed coverage on Amgen in a report on Thursday, October 17th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $380.00 price target for the company. UBS Group decreased their price target on Amgen from $335.00 to $326.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Piper Sandler Companies reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $310.00 price objective on shares of Amgen in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $318.83.

Amgen Stock Performance

AMGN traded up $3.46 on Tuesday, hitting $262.05. 1,630,761 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,882,019. The company has a current ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.55. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $283.46 and a two-hundred day moving average of $310.11. Amgen Inc. has a twelve month low of $253.30 and a twelve month high of $346.85. The firm has a market cap of $140.86 billion, a PE ratio of 33.55, a P/E/G ratio of 2.91 and a beta of 0.56.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The medical research company reported $5.58 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.11 by $0.47. Amgen had a return on equity of 168.35% and a net margin of 13.00%. The business had revenue of $8.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.50 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $4.96 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 23.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts anticipate that Amgen Inc. will post 19.53 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Amgen Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be issued a dividend of $2.38 per share. This is an increase from Amgen’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.25. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $9.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.63%. Amgen’s payout ratio is 121.90%.

Amgen 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.