Public Sector Pension Investment Board Boosts Stake in Biogen Inc. (NASDAQ:BIIB)

Public Sector Pension Investment Board lifted its stake in Biogen Inc. (NASDAQ:BIIB) by 77.1% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 5,661 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,465 shares during the period. Public Sector Pension Investment Board’s holdings in Biogen were worth $1,312,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of BIIB. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Biogen by 18.2% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,407,330 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $3,728,185,000 after purchasing an additional 2,218,744 shares in the last quarter. FIL Ltd increased its stake in Biogen by 936.4% in the 4th quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 656,502 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $169,883,000 after buying an additional 593,158 shares in the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP increased its stake in Biogen by 141.0% in the 4th quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 977,308 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $252,898,000 after buying an additional 571,795 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its stake in Biogen by 22.2% in the 1st quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,737,340 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $374,623,000 after buying an additional 316,144 shares in the last quarter. Finally, RA Capital Management L.P. increased its stake in Biogen by 39.0% in the 1st quarter. RA Capital Management L.P. now owns 740,727 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $159,723,000 after buying an additional 207,835 shares in the last quarter. 87.93% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have issued reports on BIIB. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $285.00 price target on shares of Biogen in a research note on Tuesday, September 24th. Robert W. Baird cut their price target on Biogen from $316.00 to $294.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, July 29th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on Biogen from $240.00 to $225.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $292.00 price objective on shares of Biogen in a report on Thursday, September 19th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Biogen from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, September 2nd. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $275.30.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Priya Singhal sold 431 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $204.22, for a total value of $88,018.82. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 5,316 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,085,633.52. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 0.16% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Biogen Stock Down 1.6 %

Shares of NASDAQ BIIB opened at $190.80 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $27.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.82, a PEG ratio of 1.97 and a beta of -0.06. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $202.80 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $213.48. Biogen Inc. has a 1 year low of $188.78 and a 1 year high of $269.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40, a current ratio of 2.29 and a quick ratio of 1.48.

Biogen (NASDAQ:BIIB) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The biotechnology company reported $5.28 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.00 by $1.28. The business had revenue of $2.47 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.39 billion. Biogen had a net margin of 11.98% and a return on equity of 15.71%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up .4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $4.02 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Biogen Inc. will post 16.12 earnings per share for the current year.

Biogen Company Profile

Biogen Inc discovers, develops, manufactures, and delivers therapies for treating neurological and neurodegenerative diseases in the United States, Europe, Germany, Asia, and internationally. The company provides TECFIDERA, VUMERITY, AVONEX, PLEGRIDY, TYSABRI, and FAMPYRA for multiple sclerosis (MS); SPINRAZA for spinal muscular atrophy; ADUHELM to treat Alzheimer's disease; FUMADERM to treat plaque psoriasis; BENEPALI, an etanercept biosimilar referencing ENBREL; IMRALDI, an adalimumab biosimilar referencing HUMIRA; FLIXABI, an infliximab biosimilar referencing REMICADE; and BYOOVIZ, a ranibizumab biosimilar referencing LUCENTIS.