Bank of Montreal Can Has $42.81 Million Position in Biogen Inc. (NASDAQ:BIIB)

Bank of Montreal Can lowered its stake in Biogen Inc. (NASDAQ:BIIB) by 6.2% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 219,911 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after selling 14,420 shares during the quarter. Bank of Montreal Can’s holdings in Biogen were worth $42,810,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Bedell Frazier Investment Counselling LLC lifted its stake in Biogen by 128.8% in the third quarter. Bedell Frazier Investment Counselling LLC now owns 31,318 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $6,071,000 after buying an additional 17,628 shares in the last quarter. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd lifted its stake in Biogen by 52.3% in the third quarter. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd now owns 6,710 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $1,299,000 after buying an additional 2,304 shares in the last quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. lifted its stake in Biogen by 27.1% in the third quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 31,594 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $6,124,000 after buying an additional 6,746 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB lifted its stake in Biogen by 85.0% in the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 185,008 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $35,862,000 after buying an additional 84,981 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cerity Partners LLC lifted its stake in Biogen by 35.3% in the third quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 7,785 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $1,509,000 after buying an additional 2,030 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 87.93% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Biogen

In related news, insider Priya Singhal sold 431 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $204.22, for a total value of $88,018.82. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 5,316 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,085,633.52. This represents a 7.50 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 0.16% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Biogen Trading Up 1.4 %

BIIB stock opened at $159.83 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 1.26. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $178.63 and its 200 day simple moving average is $203.60. Biogen Inc. has a 52 week low of $153.62 and a 52 week high of $268.30. The company has a market capitalization of $23.29 billion, a PE ratio of 14.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.50 and a beta of -0.06.

Biogen (NASDAQ:BIIB) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The biotechnology company reported $4.08 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.77 by $0.31. Biogen had a net margin of 16.81% and a return on equity of 14.98%. The business had revenue of $2.47 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.43 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $4.36 earnings per share. Biogen’s revenue was down 2.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Biogen Inc. will post 16.44 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have weighed in on BIIB shares. Scotiabank cut their price target on shares of Biogen from $275.00 to $244.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Raymond James reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Biogen in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $292.00 price objective on shares of Biogen in a research report on Monday, September 9th. Morgan Stanley lowered shares of Biogen from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $285.00 to $204.00 in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of Biogen from $220.00 to $210.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Biogen currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $257.20.

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.