Alkermes plc (NASDAQ:ALKS) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Shares of Alkermes plc (NASDAQ:ALKS) have received a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the twelve research firms that are covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and eight have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $38.50.

Several brokerages recently issued reports on ALKS. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their target price on shares of Alkermes from $40.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 27th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Alkermes from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on shares of Alkermes from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. HC Wainwright restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $46.00 target price on shares of Alkermes in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada started coverage on shares of Alkermes in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. They set a “sector perform” rating and a $40.00 price target for the company.

Alkermes Trading Up 2.0 %

ALKS stock opened at $27.54 on Tuesday. Alkermes has a 1-year low of $22.90 and a 1-year high of $36.45. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $33.06 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $30.47. The stock has a market cap of $4.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.69, a P/E/G ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.39.

Alkermes (NASDAQ:ALKS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The company reported $0.92 earnings per share 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%. As a group, analysts forecast that Alkermes will post 1.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Alkermes news, EVP Craig C. Hopkinson sold 144,419 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.53, for a total transaction of $5,131,207.07. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 57,875 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,056,298.75. The trade was a 71.39 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 4.89% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. RTW Investments LP boosted its stake in shares of Alkermes by 13.6% in the fourth quarter. RTW Investments LP now owns 7,557,835 shares of the company’s stock valued at $217,363,000 after purchasing an additional 903,802 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC grew its position in shares of Alkermes by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 5,478,728 shares of the company’s stock worth $157,568,000 after acquiring an additional 57,697 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. increased its stake in Alkermes by 6.5% in the fourth quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 3,450,707 shares of the company’s stock valued at $99,242,000 after purchasing an additional 209,740 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in Alkermes by 4.5% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,019,508 shares of the company’s stock valued at $86,842,000 after acquiring an additional 128,701 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Avoro Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Alkermes during the fourth quarter worth $70,462,000. 95.21% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other 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.