Oppenheimer Initiates Coverage on Teva Pharmaceutical Industries (NYSE:TEVA)

Key Points

• Oppenheimer initiated coverage of Teva with an “outperform” rating and a $50 price target, implying 26.4% upside from the prior close.
• Analyst sentiment is broadly positive: 11 analysts rate Teva a Buy and one rates it Hold, producing a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating and an average price target of $43.73.
• Teva shares opened at $39.56, near their 52-week high of $40.79, while insiders sold approximately $14.6 million of stock during the latest quarter.

Equities research analysts at Oppenheimer started coverage on shares of Teva Pharmaceutical Industries (NYSE:TEVA - Get Free Report) in a research note issued on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. The firm set an "outperform" rating and a $50.00 price target on the stock. Oppenheimer's price target would suggest a potential upside of 26.40% from the stock's previous close.

TEVA has been the subject of a number of other reports. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Teva Pharmaceutical Industries from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 12th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Teva Pharmaceutical Industries from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Sunday, July 12th. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on Teva Pharmaceutical Industries from $42.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 28th. UBS Group raised their price objective on Teva Pharmaceutical Industries from $42.00 to $48.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, September 4th. Finally, Weiss Ratings cut Teva Pharmaceutical Industries from a "hold (c)" rating to a "hold (c-)" rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 8th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $43.73.

Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Stock Performance

Shares of TEVA opened at $39.56 on Wednesday. Teva Pharmaceutical Industries has a one year low of $18.21 and a one year high of $40.79. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $35.73 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $33.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.56, a current ratio of 0.88 and a quick ratio of 0.67. The firm has a market capitalization of $46.10 billion, a PE ratio of 65.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.99 and a beta of 0.87.

Teva Pharmaceutical Industries (NYSE:TEVA - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, June 30th. The company reported $0.02 EPS for the quarter. The company had revenue of $4.14 billion during the quarter. Teva Pharmaceutical Industries had a return on equity of 32.64% and a net margin of 4.08%. On average, analysts anticipate that Teva Pharmaceutical Industries will post 1.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Brian Savage sold 7,342 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $38.85, for a total transaction of $285,236.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 8,500 shares of the company's stock, valued at $330,225. The trade was a 46.35% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Roberto Mignone sold 367,600 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.06, for a total transaction of $14,358,456.00. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 374,959 shares of company stock valued at $14,644,285 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.54% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Teva Pharmaceutical Industries

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in TEVA. Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. increased its holdings in Teva Pharmaceutical Industries by 2.2% during the first quarter. Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. now owns 45,956,714 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,384,216,000 after buying an additional 1,004,941 shares during the last quarter. Clal Insurance Enterprises Holdings Ltd increased its stake in shares of Teva Pharmaceutical Industries by 18.8% in the 4th quarter. Clal Insurance Enterprises Holdings Ltd now owns 37,404,106 shares of the company's stock worth $1,171,378,000 after purchasing an additional 5,917,423 shares in the last quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in Teva Pharmaceutical Industries by 191.4% in the 1st quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC now owns 40,820,600 shares of the company's stock worth $1,157,264,000 after purchasing an additional 26,813,522 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in Teva Pharmaceutical Industries in the 4th quarter worth $1,098,060,000. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Teva Pharmaceutical Industries by 3.4% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 10,326,504 shares of the company's stock valued at $320,295,000 after purchasing an additional 336,629 shares in the last quarter. 54.05% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Teva Pharmaceutical Industries

Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. is a global pharmaceutical company headquartered in Tel Aviv, Israel. The company develops, manufactures and markets generic medicines, innovative specialty medicines, biosimilars, over-the-counter products and active pharmaceutical ingredients. Its portfolio serves a broad range of therapeutic areas, including central nervous system disorders, respiratory conditions, migraine, oncology and movement disorders.

Teva's specialty medicines include treatments for conditions such as multiple sclerosis, migraine and tardive dyskinesia, while its generic medicines business supplies products across numerous therapeutic categories and dosage forms.

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