Chesley Taft & Associates LLC Trims Stock Position in Amgen Inc. $AMGN

Chesley Taft & Associates LLC decreased its holdings in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 11.9% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 17,597 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 2,373 shares during the quarter. Chesley Taft & Associates LLC’s holdings in Amgen were worth $4,966,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its holdings 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 during the last quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP boosted its holdings in Amgen by 229.0% in the first quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 4,908 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,529,000 after acquiring an additional 3,416 shares during the last quarter. JT Stratford LLC grew its position in Amgen by 32.1% during the first quarter. JT Stratford LLC now owns 1,466 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $457,000 after acquiring an additional 356 shares during the period. Erste Asset Management GmbH grew its position in Amgen by 32.5% during the first quarter. Erste Asset Management GmbH now owns 123,366 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $37,877,000 after acquiring an additional 30,241 shares during the period. Finally, Capital Analysts LLC increased its stake in Amgen by 32.8% during the first quarter. Capital Analysts LLC now owns 2,471 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $769,000 after acquiring an additional 610 shares during the last quarter. 76.50% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on AMGN shares. Cantor Fitzgerald lifted their price objective on Amgen from $305.00 to $315.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 6th. DZ Bank boosted their price objective on shares of Amgen from $335.00 to $364.00 in a research note on Monday, November 10th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on shares of Amgen from $335.00 to $372.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 3rd. Truist Financial started coverage on shares of Amgen in a report on Monday, November 24th. They set a “hold” rating and a $318.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Piper Sandler upped their price target on shares of Amgen from $342.00 to $381.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, November 14th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have assigned a Buy rating, ten have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $332.85.

Insider Buying and Selling at Amgen

In related news, EVP Murdo Gordon sold 6,879 shares of Amgen stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $336.83, for a total value of $2,317,053.57. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 41,923 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,120,924.09. The trade was a 14.10% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Rachna Khosla sold 890 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, 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. Insiders have sold a total of 10,908 shares of company stock valued at $3,674,966 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.76% of the company’s stock.

Amgen Price Performance

AMGN opened at $326.01 on Thursday. Amgen Inc. has a twelve month low of $253.30 and a twelve month high of $346.38. The firm has a market cap of $175.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.19, a PEG ratio of 2.95 and a beta of 0.45. The company has a current ratio of 1.28, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.45. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $318.00 and a 200 day simple moving average of $299.68.

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

Amgen Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed 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. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 13th. This represents a $10.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.1%. This is a boost from Amgen’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.38. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 73.57%.

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.