Brokerages Set Alkermes plc (NASDAQ:ALKS) Target Price at $45.40

Shares of Alkermes plc (NASDAQ:ALKS) have received a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the seventeen research firms that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, eleven have given a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average twelve-month price objective among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $45.40.

ALKS has been the topic of a number of research reports. Truist Financial upgraded Alkermes to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 25th. Piper Sandler dropped their price objective on shares of Alkermes from $45.00 to $43.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 24th. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on Alkermes from $45.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 13th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Alkermes from $43.00 to $44.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Finally, Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of Alkermes from $34.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, April 9th.

Alkermes Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ ALKS opened at $37.35 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $33.74 and its 200-day simple moving average is $31.64. Alkermes has a 12 month low of $25.17 and a 12 month high of $39.56. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.50 and a beta of 0.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 2.27 and a quick ratio of 1.70.

Alkermes (NASDAQ:ALKS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Saturday, February 14th. The company reported $0.29 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. The firm had revenue of $384.55 million for the quarter. Alkermes had a net margin of 9.78% and a return on equity of 9.26%. Analysts expect that Alkermes will post -0.43 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Alkermes news, EVP Craig C. Hopkinson sold 9,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $33.40, for a total transaction of $300,600.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 81,389 shares in the company, valued at $2,718,392.60. This represents a 9.96% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, SVP Christian Todd Nichols sold 6,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $30.00, for a total transaction of $180,000.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 109,769 shares in the company, valued at $3,293,070. This trade represents a 5.18% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 39,102 shares of company stock worth $1,265,090 over the last three months. Company insiders own 4.59% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Alkermes

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Baker BROS. Advisors LP boosted its holdings in shares of Alkermes by 23.7% in the fourth quarter. Baker BROS. Advisors LP now owns 10,012,267 shares of the company’s stock valued at $280,143,000 after acquiring an additional 1,920,916 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its position in Alkermes by 10.9% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 9,472,858 shares of the company’s stock worth $265,051,000 after acquiring an additional 932,507 shares in the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC raised its position in Alkermes by 6.0% in the fourth quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 6,668,028 shares of the company’s stock worth $186,571,000 after acquiring an additional 375,500 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in shares of Alkermes by 32.0% in the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 5,184,547 shares of the company’s stock valued at $145,064,000 after buying an additional 1,256,377 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of Alkermes by 2.5% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,522,378 shares of the company’s stock worth $159,850,000 after buying an additional 109,595 shares during the last quarter. 95.21% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Alkermes

Alkermes plc is a biopharmaceutical company focused on developing innovative medicines to address unmet needs in the central nervous system (CNS). The company applies its proprietary drug delivery technologies and therapeutic expertise to advance treatments for addiction, schizophrenia, bipolar I disorder and depression. Alkermes’ portfolio includes both commercial products and a pipeline of investigational therapies designed to improve patient outcomes and support long-term disease management.

Alkermes’ commercial franchise features several approved products.