Hills Bank & Trust Co Raises Stake in Biogen Inc. (NASDAQ:BIIB)

Hills Bank & Trust Co boosted its position in Biogen Inc. (NASDAQ:BIIB) by 4.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 4,570 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after buying an additional 207 shares during the quarter. Hills Bank & Trust Co’s holdings in Biogen were worth $699,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of BIIB. Inspire Trust Co. N.A. lifted its position in Biogen by 58.5% in the third quarter. Inspire Trust Co. N.A. now owns 10,900 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $2,113,000 after purchasing an additional 4,025 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its position in Biogen by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 43,460 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $6,646,000 after purchasing an additional 111 shares during the last quarter. Centre Asset Management LLC lifted its position in Biogen by 7.7% in the fourth quarter. Centre Asset Management LLC now owns 51,530 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $7,880,000 after purchasing an additional 3,698 shares during the last quarter. Amundi lifted its position in Biogen by 35.6% in the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 1,216,990 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $183,461,000 after purchasing an additional 319,478 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in Biogen by 1.4% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 913,029 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $176,982,000 after purchasing an additional 12,319 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.93% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Biogen

In related news, Director Stephen A. Sherwin sold 8,760 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 sale, the director now directly owns 11,318 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,697,926.36. This trade represents a 43.63 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.16% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Biogen Trading Down 0.4 %

NASDAQ BIIB opened at $139.44 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.35, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27. Biogen Inc. has a 12 month low of $128.51 and a 12 month high of $238.00. The stock has a market cap of $20.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.46, a P/E/G ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 0.01. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $143.09 and its 200-day moving average price is $164.30.

Biogen (NASDAQ:BIIB) last released its quarterly earnings data 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%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Biogen Inc. will post 15.83 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BIIB has been the subject of several recent research reports. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price objective on Biogen from $156.00 to $139.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Bank of America restated a “neutral” rating and set a $178.00 target price on shares of Biogen in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded Biogen from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their target price for the company from $250.00 to $180.00 in a report on Monday, December 9th. Mizuho decreased their target price on Biogen from $251.00 to $207.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Finally, William Blair restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Biogen in a report on Monday, January 13th. Seventeen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $213.33.

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.