Biogen Sees Unusually Large Options Volume (NASDAQ:BIIB)

Biogen Inc. (NASDAQ:BIIB) was the recipient of unusually large options trading activity on Wednesday. Investors bought 6,024 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 58% compared to the average volume of 3,807 call options.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Needham & Company LLC lowered shares of Biogen from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $270.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Monday, November 18th. BMO Capital Markets downgraded Biogen from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $230.00 to $164.00 in a research report on Friday, December 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on Biogen from $220.00 to $210.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Sanford C. Bernstein started coverage on shares of Biogen in a research note on Tuesday. They set a “market perform” rating and a $160.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Truist Financial dropped their price objective on shares of Biogen from $302.00 to $220.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Seventeen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $221.65.

Institutional Trading of Biogen

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in BIIB. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of Biogen by 13,574.7% during 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 period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Biogen during the 4th quarter worth about $355,569,000. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its stake in shares of Biogen by 977.9% in the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,066,460 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $163,083,000 after acquiring an additional 967,523 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Biogen by 19,722.9% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 358,992 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $695,870,000 after acquiring an additional 357,181 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Amundi raised its position in shares of Biogen by 35.6% in the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 1,216,990 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $183,461,000 after acquiring an additional 319,478 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 87.93% of the company’s stock.

Biogen Stock Performance

Shares of Biogen stock opened at $133.43 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a current ratio of 1.26 and a quick ratio of 0.80. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $148.28 and a 200 day simple moving average of $174.33. Biogen has a fifty-two week low of $128.51 and a fifty-two week high of $238.00. The firm has a market cap of $19.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.05, a P/E/G ratio of 1.65 and a beta of -0.08.

Biogen (NASDAQ:BIIB) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The biotechnology company reported $3.44 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.43 by $0.01. Biogen had a return on equity of 14.98% and a net margin of 16.81%. Sell-side analysts predict that Biogen will post 16.42 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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.