StockNews.com Downgrades Alkermes (NASDAQ:ALKS) to Hold

StockNews.com downgraded shares of Alkermes (NASDAQ:ALKS) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report released on Friday morning.

ALKS has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on Alkermes from $42.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. Piper Sandler reiterated an overweight rating and issued a $39.00 price target on shares of Alkermes in a research report on Monday, April 1st. Robert W. Baird assumed coverage on Alkermes in a report on Tuesday, March 19th. They set an outperform rating and a $37.00 price objective on the stock. UBS Group cut shares of Alkermes from a neutral rating to a sell rating and set a $25.00 target price for the company. in a report on Tuesday, February 20th. Finally, TheStreet upgraded shares of Alkermes from a c+ rating to a b rating in a report on Thursday, February 15th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of Hold and an average target price of $35.38.

Alkermes Price Performance

Alkermes stock traded up $0.19 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $24.05. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,347,148 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,980,594. Alkermes has a 12 month low of $22.01 and a 12 month high of $33.71. The company has a quick ratio of 2.50, a current ratio of 3.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23. The company has a market capitalization of $4.07 billion, a PE ratio of 9.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.68 and a beta of 0.61. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $26.73 and its 200-day moving average price is $26.74.

Alkermes (NASDAQ:ALKS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 1st. The company reported $0.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.58 by ($0.15). Alkermes had a return on equity of 20.31% and a net margin of 25.17%. The business had revenue of $350.37 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $360.26 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned ($0.10) EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 21.8% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate that Alkermes will post 2.22 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alkermes declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback plan on Thursday, February 15th that authorizes the company to buyback $400.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the company to repurchase up to 8.2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alkermes

In other Alkermes news, SVP Christian Todd Nichols sold 10,417 shares of Alkermes stock in a transaction on Monday, March 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $28.10, for a total transaction of $292,717.70. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 65,911 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,852,099.10. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Company insiders own 4.76% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Alkermes

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in ALKS. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Alkermes by 12.3% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 20,955,454 shares of the company’s stock worth $581,304,000 after buying an additional 2,288,185 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP grew 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 valued at $422,798,000 after buying an additional 3,494,678 shares during the last quarter. RTW Investments LP increased its stake in shares of Alkermes by 338.8% in the fourth quarter. RTW Investments LP now owns 3,901,523 shares of the company’s stock worth $108,228,000 after purchasing an additional 3,012,450 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its position in shares of Alkermes by 4.0% during the 3rd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 2,761,316 shares of the company’s stock worth $77,344,000 after purchasing an additional 106,749 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in Alkermes by 3.9% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,403,195 shares of the company’s stock valued at $66,666,000 after purchasing an additional 90,219 shares during the period. 95.21% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.