Biogen (NASDAQ:BIIB) Upgraded at Citigroup

Citigroup upgraded shares of Biogen (NASDAQ:BIIB) to a hold rating in a report released on Wednesday,Zacks.com reports.

Several other equities analysts have also commented on BIIB. Wedbush lowered their target price on Biogen from $210.00 to $205.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, September 23rd. TD Cowen lowered their price objective on Biogen from $300.00 to $275.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Scotiabank cut their target price on Biogen from $275.00 to $244.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price target on shares of Biogen from $292.00 to $269.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 4th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets cut their price objective on shares of Biogen from $260.00 to $230.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $258.96.

Biogen Price Performance

Shares of BIIB opened at $159.99 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28. The firm has a market cap of $23.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.78, a PEG ratio of 1.57 and a beta of -0.06. Biogen has a 52 week low of $159.60 and a 52 week high of $268.30. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $186.80 and a 200-day moving average of $207.77.

Biogen (NASDAQ:BIIB) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The biotechnology company reported $4.08 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.77 by $0.31. Biogen had a net margin of 16.81% and a return on equity of 14.98%. The firm had revenue of $2.47 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.43 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $4.36 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 2.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that Biogen will post 16.4 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Biogen

In other Biogen news, insider Priya Singhal sold 431 shares of the 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 sale, the insider now owns 5,316 shares in the company, valued at $1,085,633.52. This represents a 7.50 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.16% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Biogen

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Biogen by 15.0% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 16,570,398 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $3,573,075,000 after purchasing an additional 2,163,068 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its position in Biogen by 19,722.9% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 358,992 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $695,870,000 after acquiring an additional 357,181 shares in the last quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC increased its stake in shares of Biogen by 2,715.9% during the 3rd quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 316,000 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $61,253,000 after purchasing an additional 304,778 shares during the last quarter. Erste Asset Management GmbH bought a new position in shares of Biogen during the 3rd quarter valued at $55,826,000. Finally, State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of Biogen by 3.5% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 7,344,960 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $1,423,747,000 after purchasing an additional 248,942 shares during the last quarter. 87.93% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Biogen

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.