Regeneron Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:REGN) Stock Rating Upgraded by Wall Street Zen

Regeneron Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:REGN) was upgraded by analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note issued to investors on Saturday.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently issued reports on REGN. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $865.00 price target (up from $750.00) on shares of Regeneron Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Monday, February 2nd. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Regeneron Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Monday, December 29th. HSBC started coverage on Regeneron Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Monday, November 24th. They set a “buy” rating and a $255.00 price target for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Regeneron Pharmaceuticals from $850.00 to $950.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, February 2nd. Finally, Scotiabank increased their target price on Regeneron Pharmaceuticals from $650.00 to $770.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Monday, November 24th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $793.81.

Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Stock Performance

REGN opened at $781.67 on Friday. Regeneron Pharmaceuticals has a twelve month low of $476.49 and a twelve month high of $821.11. The firm has a market capitalization of $82.64 billion, a PE ratio of 18.81, a PEG ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 0.40. The company has a current ratio of 4.13, a quick ratio of 3.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $771.59 and its 200 day moving average price is $682.49.

Regeneron Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:REGN) last issued its earnings results on Friday, January 30th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $11.44 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $10.74 by $0.70. The company had revenue of $3.88 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.76 billion. Regeneron Pharmaceuticals had a return on equity of 13.04% and a net margin of 31.41%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 2.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $12.07 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Regeneron Pharmaceuticals will post 35.92 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Regeneron Pharmaceuticals

In related news, Director Bonnie L. Bassler sold 1,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $800.00, for a total transaction of $1,200,000.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 1,703 shares in the company, valued at $1,362,400. This trade represents a 46.83% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Jason Pitofsky sold 2,036 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $778.52, for a total transaction of $1,585,066.72. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 4,272 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,325,837.44. This trade represents a 32.28% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 5,274 shares of company stock worth $4,142,738. 7.02% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Regeneron Pharmaceuticals

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Groupama Asset Managment grew its stake in shares of Regeneron Pharmaceuticals by 13.5% during the 4th quarter. Groupama Asset Managment now owns 71,182 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $54,943,000 after purchasing an additional 8,481 shares during the period. MidFirst Bank purchased a new stake in Regeneron Pharmaceuticals during the fourth quarter worth about $230,000. DGS Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Regeneron Pharmaceuticals during the fourth quarter worth about $235,000. SG Trading Solutions LLC purchased a new position in Regeneron Pharmaceuticals in the fourth quarter valued at about $3,081,000. Finally, MV Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in Regeneron Pharmaceuticals in the fourth quarter valued at about $60,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.31% of the company’s stock.

About Regeneron Pharmaceuticals

Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc (NASDAQ: REGN) is a U.S.-based biotechnology company founded in 1988 and headquartered in Tarrytown, New York. It focuses on discovering, developing, manufacturing and commercializing medicines for serious medical conditions. The company combines laboratory research, clinical development and in-house manufacturing to advance a pipeline of biologic therapies across multiple therapeutic areas.

Regeneron is known for its proprietary drug discovery technologies, including its VelocImmune platform, which is used to generate fully human monoclonal antibodies.