Avanza Fonder AB Trims Stake in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Avanza Fonder AB reduced its stake in shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 15.2% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 50,148 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 8,974 shares during the quarter. Amgen accounts for 0.5% of Avanza Fonder AB’s holdings, making the stock its 28th largest position. Avanza Fonder AB’s holdings in Amgen were worth $15,330,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Amgen by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 52,721,795 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $13,741,409,000 after acquiring an additional 339,522 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Amgen by 25.4% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 13,205,604 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $3,441,909,000 after buying an additional 2,672,975 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Amgen by 2.9% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 12,475,032 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $3,245,881,000 after buying an additional 352,143 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors increased its position in shares of Amgen by 40.1% in the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 12,212,065 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $3,182,843,000 after buying an additional 3,495,503 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital World Investors increased its position in shares of Amgen by 1,292.0% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 6,495,710 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,693,042,000 after buying an additional 6,029,058 shares in the last quarter. 76.50% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Rachna Khosla sold 1,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $289.68, for a total value of $434,520.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 8,162 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,364,368.16. This represents a 15.52% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.76% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently commented on the company. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price objective on Amgen from $324.00 to $320.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Bank of America boosted their price objective on Amgen from $275.00 to $294.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Erste Group Bank cut Amgen from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. Piper Sandler cut their price objective on Amgen from $329.00 to $328.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 16th. Finally, Morgan Stanley restated an “equal weight” rating on shares of Amgen in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $309.22.

Amgen Stock Performance

NASDAQ AMGN opened at $289.98 on Tuesday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $281.26 and its two-hundred day moving average is $285.36. The firm has a market capitalization of $155.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 0.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.62, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 1.26. Amgen Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $253.30 and a fifty-two week high of $346.85.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The medical research company reported $4.90 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.18 by $0.72. The company had revenue of $8.15 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.05 billion. Amgen had a return on equity of 176.32% and a net margin of 12.24%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $3.96 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Amgen Inc. will post 20.62 earnings per share for the current year.

About Amgen

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.