Clifford Swan Investment Counsel LLC Has $11.55 Million Position in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Clifford Swan Investment Counsel LLC lowered its stake in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 0.8% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 40,108 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 307 shares during the quarter. Clifford Swan Investment Counsel LLC’s holdings in Amgen were worth $11,552,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of AMGN. International Assets Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Amgen in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $4,589,900,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its position in shares of Amgen by 486.6% during the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 899,232 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $258,997,000 after purchasing an additional 745,929 shares in the last quarter. abrdn plc boosted its position in shares of Amgen by 150.4% during the fourth quarter. abrdn plc now owns 1,043,609 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $300,580,000 after purchasing an additional 626,810 shares in the last quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Amgen by 111.9% during the fourth quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 989,061 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $284,869,000 after purchasing an additional 522,367 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted its position in shares of Amgen by 11.4% during the third quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 5,079,677 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,365,213,000 after purchasing an additional 518,689 shares in the last quarter. 76.50% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on AMGN. StockNews.com raised shares of Amgen from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Raymond James assumed coverage on shares of Amgen in a report on Thursday, March 28th. They set a “market perform” rating on the stock. TD Cowen dropped their price objective on shares of Amgen from $370.00 to $360.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 17th. SVB Leerink lowered shares of Amgen from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $324.00 to $318.00 in a report on Wednesday, February 7th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price objective on shares of Amgen from $332.00 to $328.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Amgen currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $305.05.

Amgen Stock Performance

Shares of Amgen stock traded up $32.90 during trading on Friday, hitting $311.29. 9,644,682 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,279,398. The stock has a market capitalization of $166.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.60. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $274.95 and a 200-day moving average price of $281.46. Amgen Inc. has a 1-year low of $211.71 and a 1-year high of $329.72. The company has a current ratio of 1.65, a quick ratio of 1.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 10.14.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 2nd. The medical research company reported $3.96 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.76 by $0.20. The company had revenue of $7.45 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.45 billion. Amgen had a net margin of 12.74% and a return on equity of 145.62%. Amgen’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $3.98 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Amgen Inc. will post 19.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Amgen Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 7th. Investors of record on Friday, May 17th will be issued a dividend of $2.25 per share. This represents a $9.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.89%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 16th. Amgen’s payout ratio is 128.57%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Nancy A. Grygiel sold 2,117 shares of Amgen stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 3rd. The shares were 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 owns 9,883 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,094,268.47. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 0.46% of the stock is currently owned by 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.