Biogen Inc. (NASDAQ:BIIB) Stock Position Boosted by New York State Common Retirement Fund

New York State Common Retirement Fund boosted its stake in Biogen Inc. (NASDAQ:BIIB) by 17.2% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 111,016 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 16,271 shares during the quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund’s holdings in Biogen were worth $16,977,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of BIIB. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its position in Biogen by 13,574.7% in the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 2,667,531 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $407,919,000 after buying an additional 2,648,024 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its position in 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 buying an additional 967,523 shares in the last quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC grew its position in Biogen by 2,715.9% in the 3rd quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 316,000 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $61,253,000 after buying an additional 304,778 shares in the last quarter. Erste Asset Management GmbH bought a new position in Biogen in the 3rd quarter valued at about $55,826,000. Finally, State Street Corp grew its position in 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 buying an additional 248,942 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 87.93% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Citigroup reduced their price objective on shares of Biogen from $160.00 to $145.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. William Blair restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Biogen in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on shares of Biogen from $165.00 to $140.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Canaccord Genuity Group reduced their price objective on shares of Biogen from $298.00 to $265.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reduced their price objective on shares of Biogen from $156.00 to $139.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Seventeen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Biogen has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $213.33.

Biogen Price Performance

Shares of BIIB opened at $140.64 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $20.59 billion, a PE ratio of 12.57, a PEG ratio of 1.47 and a beta of -0.08. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $145.16 and its 200 day moving average price is $170.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a current ratio of 1.35. Biogen Inc. has a twelve month low of $128.51 and a twelve month high of $238.00.

Biogen (NASDAQ:BIIB) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The biotechnology company reported $3.44 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 fiscal 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.