Renaissance Technologies LLC Purchases 239,500 Shares of Biogen Inc. (NASDAQ:BIIB)

Renaissance Technologies LLC raised its position in shares of Biogen Inc. (NASDAQ:BIIB) by 25.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,192,206 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 239,500 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC owned about 0.82% of Biogen worth $182,312,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in BIIB. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Biogen by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 16,748,875 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $2,561,238,000 after purchasing an additional 70,368 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Biogen by 2.3% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,695,476 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $563,709,000 after buying an additional 82,456 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its holdings 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 valued at $407,919,000 after acquiring an additional 2,648,024 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Biogen during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $355,569,000. Finally, Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in Biogen by 30.6% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,128,807 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $325,537,000 after acquiring an additional 499,074 shares during the last quarter. 87.93% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BIIB has been the topic of several recent research reports. Scotiabank lowered their price objective on Biogen from $244.00 to $224.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. HC Wainwright dropped their target price on shares of Biogen from $300.00 to $241.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Sanford C. Bernstein started coverage on shares of Biogen in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $160.00 price target on the stock. Citigroup cut their price objective on shares of Biogen from $160.00 to $145.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, StockNews.com cut Biogen from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, December 28th. Eighteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $213.33.

Biogen Price Performance

BIIB stock opened at $119.19 on Tuesday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $140.08 and its 200-day simple moving average is $156.76. Biogen Inc. has a 52-week low of $117.40 and a 52-week high of $238.00. The stock has a market capitalization of $17.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 0.06. The company has a quick ratio of 0.90, a current ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27.

Biogen (NASDAQ:BIIB) last announced 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 16.87%. Equities research analysts expect that Biogen Inc. will post 15.83 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Biogen

In other news, Director Stephen A. Sherwin sold 8,760 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $150.02, for a total transaction of $1,314,175.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 11,318 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,697,926.36. This represents a 43.63 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.16% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.