Most analysts are still hesitant over the pharmaceutical stock, however
Pharmaceutical name Biogen Inc (NASDAQ:BIIB) is soaring today, up 4.2% to trade at $283.89, on a double upgrade from Morgan Stanley. The analyst lifted its rating to "overweight" from "underweight" and hiked its price target to $357 from $263, praising the firm's Alzheimer's candidate aducanumab.
The majority of analysts, meanwhile, were hesitant. Just seven called BIIB a "strong buy" coming into today, while 13 said "hold" and five said "sell" or worse. Plus, the consensus 12-month price target of $300.54 is a slim 5.8% premium to current levels.
Elsewhere, sentiment is optimistic. BIIB sports a 50-day call/put volume ratio of 1.62 at the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Cboe Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX), which stands higher than 80% readings from the past year. Plus, in the past reporting period, short interest fell 29.9% and now makes up just a slim 2% of the security's available float.
Though Biogen stock hasn't been performing as well as some of its sector peers, the equity is still up 19.3% in the last 12-months, with the $270 level providing some support since the stock gaped above the area back in October 2019. And while BIIB slipped below support at its 20-day moving average late last week, it is on track to re-champion this trendline during today's trading.