Axa S.A. Reduces Stock Position in Biogen Inc. (NASDAQ:BIIB)

Axa S.A. cut its stake in Biogen Inc. (NASDAQ:BIIB) by 82.3% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 72,002 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after selling 335,836 shares during the quarter. Axa S.A.’s holdings in Biogen were worth $16,692,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in BIIB. Plato Investment Management Ltd increased its holdings in Biogen by 82.8% during the 1st quarter. Plato Investment Management Ltd now owns 117 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 53 shares during the period. Livelsberger Financial Advisory purchased a new position in shares of Biogen during the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. Rise Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Biogen in the first quarter worth $27,000. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. purchased a new stake in shares of Biogen in the second quarter worth $33,000. Finally, EntryPoint Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Biogen in the first quarter worth $36,000. 87.93% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Biogen news, insider Priya Singhal sold 431 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 directly owns 5,316 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,085,633.52. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.16% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently commented on BIIB shares. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on Biogen from $240.00 to $225.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and issued a $285.00 price objective on shares of Biogen in a research report on Tuesday. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $292.00 target price on shares of Biogen in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Biogen in a report on Wednesday, July 3rd. Finally, Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of Biogen from $200.00 to $190.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $275.30.

Biogen Stock Performance

Biogen stock opened at $194.67 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 2.29, a quick ratio of 1.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40. The firm has a market cap of $28.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.30, a P/E/G ratio of 1.97 and a beta of -0.06. Biogen Inc. has a 1-year low of $188.78 and a 1-year high of $269.43. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $204.76 and a 200-day moving average of $214.29.

Biogen (NASDAQ:BIIB) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The biotechnology company reported $5.28 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.00 by $1.28. Biogen had a return on equity of 15.71% and a net margin of 11.98%. The business had revenue of $2.47 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.39 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $4.02 EPS. The business’s revenue was up .4% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Biogen Inc. will post 16.12 EPS for the current year.

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.