Allianz SE Invests $219,000 in Biogen Inc. (NASDAQ:BIIB)

Allianz SE acquired a new stake in shares of Biogen Inc. (NASDAQ:BIIB) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 1,459 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock, valued at approximately $219,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Biogen by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 16,748,875 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $2,561,238,000 after buying an additional 70,368 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its position in Biogen by 3.5% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 7,344,960 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $1,423,747,000 after acquiring an additional 248,942 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Biogen by 1.3% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,613,020 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $698,062,000 after acquiring an additional 47,055 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its position in Biogen by 13,574.7% in the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 2,667,531 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $407,919,000 after purchasing an additional 2,648,024 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Biogen during the 4th quarter valued at about $355,569,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.93% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Biogen

In other news, Director Stephen A. Sherwin sold 8,760 shares of Biogen stock in a transaction on Friday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $150.02, for a total transaction of $1,314,175.20. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 11,318 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,697,926.36. This trade represents a 43.63 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 0.16% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on BIIB shares. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Biogen from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, December 28th. Canaccord Genuity Group dropped their price target on shares of Biogen from $298.00 to $265.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Scotiabank reduced their price objective on Biogen from $244.00 to $224.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. HC Wainwright lowered their target price on Biogen from $300.00 to $241.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus cut Biogen from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $175.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Seventeen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Biogen presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $213.33.

Biogen Trading Down 1.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ BIIB opened at $136.84 on Tuesday. Biogen Inc. has a 1-year low of $128.51 and a 1-year high of $238.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 1.35 and a quick ratio of 0.90. The business’s 50 day moving average is $141.81 and its two-hundred day moving average is $159.27. The stock has a market capitalization of $20.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.23, a PEG ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 0.01.

Biogen (NASDAQ:BIIB) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The biotechnology company reported $3.44 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.43 by $0.01. Biogen had a net margin of 16.87% and a return on equity of 14.98%. As a group, research analysts expect that Biogen Inc. will post 15.83 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.