Alkermes plc (NASDAQ:ALKS) Shares Acquired by Arizona State Retirement System

Arizona State Retirement System raised its position in shares of Alkermes plc (NASDAQ:ALKS) by 3.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 44,233 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 1,663 shares during the quarter. Arizona State Retirement System’s holdings in Alkermes were worth $1,227,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Alkermes by 0.4% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 18,667,269 shares of the company’s stock valued at $522,870,000 after buying an additional 72,797 shares in the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. raised its stake in Alkermes by 1.2% during the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 16,621,253 shares of the company’s stock valued at $468,553,000 after buying an additional 197,079 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in Alkermes by 52.7% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 11,746,792 shares of the company’s stock valued at $329,028,000 after buying an additional 4,055,926 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its stake in Alkermes by 9.4% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 6,467,201 shares of the company’s stock valued at $144,413,000 after buying an additional 556,097 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC raised its stake in Alkermes by 1.2% during the first quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 4,868,013 shares of the company’s stock valued at $128,077,000 after buying an additional 57,068 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 95.21% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ALKS has been the subject of several recent research reports. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $39.00 target price on shares of Alkermes in a report on Monday, April 1st. StockNews.com lowered Alkermes from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 23rd. Bank of America boosted their price target on shares of Alkermes from $27.00 to $29.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 2nd. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on shares of Alkermes from $42.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. Finally, UBS Group lowered shares of Alkermes from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $25.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Tuesday, February 20th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Alkermes presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $35.25.

Alkermes Stock Performance

ALKS opened at $24.42 on Monday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $28.13 and its 200-day moving average is $27.13. The stock has a market cap of $4.13 billion, a PE ratio of 11.80 and a beta of 0.55. The company has a current ratio of 2.86, a quick ratio of 2.50 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. Alkermes plc has a twelve month low of $22.01 and a twelve month high of $33.71.

Alkermes (NASDAQ:ALKS) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The company reported $0.22 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.51 by ($0.29). Alkermes had a return on equity of 16.10% and a net margin of 21.39%. The firm had revenue of $377.50 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $362.78 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned ($0.02) EPS. Alkermes’s revenue for the quarter was up 23.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts predict that Alkermes plc will post 2.23 earnings per share for the current year.

Alkermes declared that its board has authorized a stock repurchase program on Thursday, February 15th that permits the company to buyback $400.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the company to repurchase up to 8.2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Christian Todd Nichols sold 10,417 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.10, for a total transaction of $292,717.70. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 65,911 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,852,099.10. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 4.76% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

About Alkermes

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.