First Trust Advisors LP Decreases Position in Alkermes plc $ALKS

First Trust Advisors LP lessened its stake in Alkermes plc (NASDAQ:ALKS) by 13.8% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 1,397,281 shares of the company’s stock after selling 223,765 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP’s holdings in Alkermes were worth $39,976,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of ALKS. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in Alkermes by 96.2% in the second quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 3,283 shares of the company’s stock worth $94,000 after buying an additional 1,610 shares during the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership purchased a new position in shares of Alkermes during the 2nd quarter valued at $2,955,000. Quantbot Technologies LP grew its stake in shares of Alkermes by 539.4% during the 2nd quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 6,976 shares of the company’s stock worth $200,000 after acquiring an additional 5,885 shares during the period. Panagora Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Alkermes by 2.0% during the 2nd quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 877,174 shares of the company’s stock worth $25,096,000 after acquiring an additional 17,192 shares during the period. Finally, Schroder Investment Management Group purchased a new stake in Alkermes in the 2nd quarter worth about $1,388,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.21% of the company’s stock.

Alkermes Price Performance

NASDAQ ALKS opened at $28.44 on Wednesday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $30.43 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $29.33. Alkermes plc has a 1 year low of $25.17 and a 1 year high of $36.45. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.70 billion, a PE ratio of 14.08 and a beta of 0.49.

Alkermes (NASDAQ:ALKS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 28th. The company reported $0.49 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.41 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $394.19 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $355.23 million. Alkermes had a net margin of 22.27% and a return on equity of 21.81%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.73 earnings per share. Alkermes has set its FY 2025 guidance at 1.360-1.470 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Alkermes plc will post 1.31 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have commented on ALKS shares. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Alkermes from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Sunday, November 9th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Alkermes from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Alkermes from $34.00 to $35.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 9th. Needham & Company LLC increased their target price on Alkermes from $43.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. Finally, Zacks Research lowered Alkermes from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, November 20th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have given a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Alkermes currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $44.69.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Alkermes news, EVP Craig C. Hopkinson sold 9,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $30.38, for a total value of $273,420.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 69,740 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,118,701.20. This trade represents a 11.43% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 25,748 shares of company stock valued at $786,830. 4.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.