Great West Life Assurance Co. Can Reduces Stock Position in Biogen Inc. (NASDAQ:BIIB)

Great West Life Assurance Co. Can decreased its stake in shares of Biogen Inc. (NASDAQ:BIIB) by 4.8% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 158,657 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after selling 8,053 shares during the quarter. Great West Life Assurance Co. Can owned about 0.11% of Biogen worth $45,415,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BIIB. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Biogen by 1.6% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 11,720,584 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $2,468,356,000 after acquiring an additional 183,285 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of Biogen by 2.8% during the 1st quarter. State Street Corp now owns 7,208,906 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $1,518,196,000 after purchasing an additional 197,400 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in shares of Biogen by 0.8% during the 1st quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 5,452,888 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $1,516,066,000 after purchasing an additional 41,675 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in Biogen by 771.2% in the first quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,556,583 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $90,400,000 after buying an additional 2,263,120 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its stake in Biogen by 49.5% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 2,088,356 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $580,627,000 after buying an additional 691,843 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.99% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Biogen

In other Biogen news, insider Priya Singhal sold 431 shares of Biogen stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $269.43, for a total value of $116,124.33. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 3,354 shares in the company, valued at approximately $903,668.22. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.60% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Biogen Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ BIIB opened at $230.11 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $33.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.87, a P/E/G ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 0.10. Biogen Inc. has a twelve month low of $220.86 and a twelve month high of $319.76. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $249.76 and a two-hundred day moving average of $272.07. The company has a current ratio of 1.68, a quick ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47.

Biogen (NASDAQ:BIIB) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 8th. The biotechnology company reported $4.36 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.99 by $0.37. Biogen had a net margin of 14.63% and a return on equity of 16.40%. The company had revenue of $2.53 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.40 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $4.77 EPS. Biogen’s revenue for the quarter was up .9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that Biogen Inc. will post 14.95 earnings per share for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently issued reports on BIIB. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on Biogen from $351.00 to $363.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, November 9th. Oppenheimer lowered their price objective on shares of Biogen from $360.00 to $290.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, August 7th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Biogen from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, November 10th. William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Biogen in a research report on Thursday, November 9th. Finally, Barclays cut their price objective on Biogen from $311.00 to $294.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, August 8th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $326.08.

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 offers 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.