Short Interest in Biogen Inc. (NASDAQ:BIIB) Decreases By 5.1%

Biogen Inc. (NASDAQ:BIIB) was the target of a significant decrease in short interest in the month of December. As of December 15th, there was short interest totalling 2,580,000 shares, a decrease of 5.1% from the November 30th total of 2,720,000 shares. Currently, 1.8% of the company’s stock are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 1,520,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 1.7 days.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Biogen

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of BIIB. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. acquired a new position in Biogen during the 2nd quarter valued at about $33,000. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC acquired a new position in Biogen during the 3rd quarter valued at about $33,000. Venturi Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in Biogen by 73.8% during the 3rd quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 219 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $42,000 after buying an additional 93 shares during the period. Rothschild Investment LLC acquired a new position in Biogen during the 2nd quarter valued at about $60,000. Finally, FSA Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Biogen during the 3rd quarter valued at about $74,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.93% of the company’s stock.

Biogen Stock Up 1.8 %

BIIB stock opened at $152.92 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28. Biogen has a fifty-two week low of $145.07 and a fifty-two week high of $268.30. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $161.47 and its 200 day simple moving average is $191.15. The stock has a market cap of $22.28 billion, a PE ratio of 13.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.74 and a beta of -0.08.

Biogen (NASDAQ:BIIB) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The biotechnology company reported $4.08 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.77 by $0.31. The business had revenue of $2.47 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.43 billion. Biogen had a net margin of 16.81% and a return on equity of 14.98%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $4.36 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Biogen will post 16.43 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BIIB has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Wedbush reduced their price objective on shares of Biogen from $210.00 to $205.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. Raymond James reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Biogen in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. UBS Group reduced their price objective on shares of Biogen from $234.00 to $202.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Bank of America reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $178.00 price objective on shares of Biogen in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets downgraded shares of Biogen from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $230.00 to $164.00 in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Sixteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Biogen has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $242.68.

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.