Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. Lowers Stock Holdings in Biogen Inc. (NASDAQ:BIIB)

Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. lowered its position in shares of Biogen Inc. (NASDAQ:BIIB) by 4.4% in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,965 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after selling 90 shares during the quarter. Johnson Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in Biogen were worth $456,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in BIIB. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Biogen by 18.2% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,407,330 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $3,728,185,000 after acquiring an additional 2,218,744 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Biogen during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $378,728,000. FIL Ltd raised its holdings in shares of Biogen by 936.4% during the fourth quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 656,502 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $169,883,000 after acquiring an additional 593,158 shares during the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP raised its holdings in shares of Biogen by 141.0% during the fourth quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 977,308 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $252,898,000 after acquiring an additional 571,795 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp raised its holdings in shares of Biogen by 22.2% during the first quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,737,340 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $374,623,000 after acquiring an additional 316,144 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.93% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have commented on BIIB. 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 report on Friday, August 2nd. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $292.00 price target on shares of Biogen in a report on Monday, September 9th. Mizuho cut their price target on Biogen from $277.00 to $251.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, August 6th. Truist Financial reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $302.00 price target (down previously from $340.00) on shares of Biogen in a report on Monday, August 5th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $285.00 price target on shares of Biogen in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $275.52.

Insider Buying and Selling at Biogen

In other news, insider Priya Singhal sold 431 shares of Biogen stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $204.22, for a total transaction of $88,018.82. Following the sale, the insider now owns 5,316 shares in the company, valued at $1,085,633.52. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.16% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Biogen Stock Down 1.1 %

Biogen stock opened at $195.63 on Friday. Biogen Inc. has a 1-year low of $189.44 and a 1-year high of $269.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40, a current ratio of 2.29 and a quick ratio of 1.48. The stock has a market cap of $28.50 billion, a PE ratio of 24.42, a P/E/G ratio of 2.01 and a beta of -0.06. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $210.52 and its two-hundred day moving average is $215.71.

Biogen (NASDAQ:BIIB) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The biotechnology company reported $5.28 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.00 by $1.28. Biogen had a return on equity of 15.71% and a net margin of 11.98%. The company had revenue of $2.47 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.39 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $4.02 earnings per share. Biogen’s quarterly revenue was up .4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Biogen Inc. will post 16.12 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.