Alkermes plc (NASDAQ:ALKS) Given Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

Shares of Alkermes plc (NASDAQ:ALKS) have received an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the eleven ratings firms that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and nine have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $38.36.

Several research analysts have commented on ALKS shares. Mizuho lifted their price objective on shares of Alkermes from $35.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on shares of Alkermes from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. StockNews.com raised shares of Alkermes from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft began coverage on shares of Alkermes in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. They set a “buy” rating and a $40.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upgraded Alkermes from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $25.00 to $36.00 in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th.

Alkermes Stock Performance

ALKS stock opened at $34.33 on Monday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $31.34 and a 200 day moving average price of $29.40. Alkermes has a fifty-two week low of $22.90 and a fifty-two week high of $36.45. The firm has a market cap of $5.58 billion, a PE ratio of 15.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.49.

Alkermes (NASDAQ:ALKS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The company reported $0.92 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.81 by $0.11. Alkermes had a net margin of 23.57% and a return on equity of 30.80%. On average, equities analysts predict that Alkermes will post 1.31 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Alkermes

In related news, Director Cato T. Laurencin sold 2,691 shares of Alkermes stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $31.85, for a total value of $85,708.35. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 23,013 shares in the company, valued at $732,964.05. The trade was a 10.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Craig C. Hopkinson sold 144,419 shares of Alkermes stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.53, for a total value of $5,131,207.07. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 57,875 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,056,298.75. The trade was a 71.39 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 318,400 shares of company stock worth $10,702,911 over the last three months. 4.89% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Alkermes

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. raised its holdings in Alkermes by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 100,032 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,877,000 after purchasing an additional 311 shares in the last quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc raised its holdings in Alkermes by 4.4% in the fourth quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 9,155 shares of the company’s stock worth $263,000 after purchasing an additional 384 shares in the last quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in Alkermes by 3.9% in the fourth quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 14,203 shares of the company’s stock worth $408,000 after purchasing an additional 532 shares in the last quarter. Nicollet Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in Alkermes by 1.7% in the third quarter. Nicollet Investment Management Inc. now owns 43,845 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,227,000 after purchasing an additional 714 shares in the last quarter. Finally, KBC Group NV raised its holdings in Alkermes by 18.8% in the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 4,890 shares of the company’s stock worth $137,000 after purchasing an additional 774 shares in the last quarter. 95.21% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Alkermes Company Profile

Alkermes plc, a biopharmaceutical company, researches, develops, and commercializes pharmaceutical products to address unmet medical needs of patients in therapeutic areas in the United States, Ireland, and internationally. It has a portfolio of proprietary commercial products for the treatment of alcohol dependence, opioid dependence, schizophrenia and bipolar I disorder and a pipeline of clinical and preclinical product candidates in development for neurological disorders.