Alkermes (NASDAQ:ALKS) Stock Price Up 2.9%

Shares of Alkermes plc (NASDAQ:ALKS) traded up 2.9% during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $24.57 and last traded at $24.46. 974,501 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 49% from the average session volume of 1,896,073 shares. The stock had previously closed at $23.77.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. HC Wainwright reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $35.00 target price on shares of Alkermes in a research note on Friday. TheStreet upgraded Alkermes from a “c+” rating to a “b” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 15th. StockNews.com cut Alkermes from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 23rd. Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $39.00 target price on shares of Alkermes in a research note on Monday, April 1st. Finally, Robert W. Baird assumed coverage on Alkermes in a research note on Tuesday, March 19th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $37.00 target price on the stock. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Alkermes presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $35.38.

Alkermes Trading Up 0.4 %

The business’s 50 day moving average is $27.90 and its two-hundred day moving average is $27.03. The company has a quick ratio of 2.50, a current ratio of 2.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.43, a PEG ratio of 0.66 and a beta of 0.55.

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

Alkermes announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase program on Thursday, February 15th that allows the company to repurchase $400.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to repurchase up to 8.2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are typically an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Alkermes news, SVP Christian Todd Nichols sold 10,417 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $28.10, for a total value of $292,717.70. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 65,911 shares in the company, valued at $1,852,099.10. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 4.76% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Alkermes

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Alkermes by 12.3% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 20,955,454 shares of the company’s stock worth $581,304,000 after purchasing an additional 2,288,185 shares in the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. increased its stake in Alkermes by 1.2% in the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 16,621,253 shares of the company’s stock worth $468,553,000 after purchasing an additional 197,079 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in Alkermes by 29.8% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 15,241,470 shares of the company’s stock worth $422,798,000 after purchasing an additional 3,494,678 shares in the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp increased its stake in Alkermes by 9.4% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 6,467,201 shares of the company’s stock worth $144,413,000 after purchasing an additional 556,097 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.21% 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.