Pictet Asset Management Holding SA Lowers Position in Alkermes plc (NASDAQ:ALKS)

Pictet Asset Management Holding SA decreased its holdings in shares of Alkermes plc (NASDAQ:ALKS) by 9.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 819,981 shares of the company’s stock after selling 82,738 shares during the quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA owned 0.51% of Alkermes worth $23,583,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Alkermes in the 4th quarter worth $56,684,000. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P grew its position in Alkermes by 22.3% in the fourth quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P now owns 2,302,905 shares of the company’s stock worth $66,232,000 after acquiring an additional 419,969 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in Alkermes by 147.4% in the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 889,472 shares of the company’s stock valued at $25,581,000 after acquiring an additional 529,962 shares during the last quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership raised its position in Alkermes by 2.6% during the fourth quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership now owns 1,988,796 shares of the company’s stock valued at $57,198,000 after purchasing an additional 50,470 shares in the last quarter. Finally, EFG Asset Management North America Corp. lifted its stake in Alkermes by 58.6% during the fourth quarter. EFG Asset Management North America Corp. now owns 129,662 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,728,000 after purchasing an additional 47,901 shares during the last quarter. 95.21% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Alkermes Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:ALKS opened at $33.02 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.22, a P/E/G ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.62. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $33.53 and a 200-day moving average price of $30.36. Alkermes plc has a 52-week low of $22.90 and a 52-week high of $36.45.

Alkermes (NASDAQ:ALKS) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The company reported $0.92 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 forecast that Alkermes plc will post 1.31 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on ALKS shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price objective on Alkermes from $40.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, March 27th. HC Wainwright reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $46.00 price target on shares of Alkermes in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on shares of Alkermes from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report 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. Finally, UBS Group raised Alkermes from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $21.00 to $38.00 in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $39.38.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alkermes

In other news, EVP Craig C. Hopkinson sold 100,918 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.05, for a total value of $3,234,421.90. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 44,290 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,419,494.50. This represents a 69.50 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 4.89% of the company’s stock.

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.