Bell Asset Management Ltd Sells 690 Shares of Amgen Inc. $AMGN

Bell Asset Management Ltd lessened its holdings in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 7.1% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 8,964 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 690 shares during the quarter. Bell Asset Management Ltd’s holdings in Amgen were worth $2,503,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its stake in shares of Amgen by 23.5% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 27,468 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $7,159,000 after purchasing an additional 5,226 shares in the last quarter. N.E.W. Advisory Services LLC bought a new position in Amgen in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $147,000. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. lifted its stake in Amgen by 74.4% in the 1st quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 12,896 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $4,018,000 after purchasing an additional 5,500 shares during the last quarter. XTX Topco Ltd boosted its position in Amgen by 118.6% in the first quarter. XTX Topco Ltd now owns 5,127 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,597,000 after buying an additional 2,782 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Tredje AP fonden grew its stake in shares of Amgen by 27.1% during the first quarter. Tredje AP fonden now owns 127,707 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $39,787,000 after buying an additional 27,214 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.50% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AMGN has been the topic of several recent research reports. UBS Group cut their price objective on Amgen from $326.00 to $317.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, August 6th. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on Amgen from $333.00 to $329.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, November 5th. Raymond James Financial began coverage on Amgen in a report on Wednesday, September 3rd. They set a “market perform” rating on the stock. HSBC upped their price objective on Amgen from $343.00 to $381.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 19th. Finally, Guggenheim lifted their target price on shares of Amgen from $288.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have issued a Buy rating, ten have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $333.74.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Amgen news, EVP Murdo Gordon sold 6,879 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $336.83, for a total transaction of $2,317,053.57. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 41,923 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,120,924.09. This trade represents a 14.10% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Rachna Khosla sold 890 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $336.24, for a total value of $299,253.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 7,082 shares in the company, valued at $2,381,251.68. This represents a 11.16% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 10,908 shares of company stock worth $3,674,966. Company insiders own 0.76% of the company’s stock.

Amgen Stock Performance

Shares of AMGN stock opened at $344.57 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $185.54 billion, a PE ratio of 28.17, a PEG ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 0.45. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $304.95 and its 200 day simple moving average is $293.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.24, a current ratio of 1.31 and a quick ratio of 0.98. Amgen Inc. has a one year low of $253.30 and a one year high of $345.84.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 4th. The medical research company reported $5.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.01 by $0.63. Amgen had a net margin of 18.96% and a return on equity of 174.71%. The firm had revenue of $9.56 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.98 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $5.58 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.4% on a year-over-year basis. Amgen has set its FY 2025 guidance at 20.600-21.400 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Amgen Inc. will post 20.62 earnings per share for the current year.

Amgen Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 12th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 21st will be given a dividend of $2.38 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 21st. This represents a $9.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.8%. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio is 73.57%.

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.