Alkermes (NASDAQ:ALKS) Receives “Neutral” Rating from HC Wainwright

HC Wainwright reissued their neutral rating on shares of Alkermes (NASDAQ:ALKS) in a report issued on Thursday, Benzinga reports. HC Wainwright currently has a $35.00 target price on the stock.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently weighed in on ALKS. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on Alkermes from $42.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. Robert W. Baird started coverage on shares of Alkermes in a report on Tuesday, March 19th. They set an outperform rating and a $37.00 price target on the stock. UBS Group downgraded shares of Alkermes from a neutral rating to a sell rating and set a $25.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Tuesday, February 20th. StockNews.com cut shares of Alkermes from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a research report on Friday, February 23rd. Finally, TheStreet upgraded Alkermes from a c+ rating to a b rating in a report on Thursday, February 15th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Alkermes has an average rating of Hold and an average price target of $35.38.

Alkermes Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ ALKS opened at $24.05 on Thursday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $26.73 and a two-hundred day moving average of $26.73. The company has a market capitalization of $4.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.51, a PEG ratio of 0.69 and a beta of 0.61. The company has a current ratio of 3.20, a quick ratio of 2.50 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23. Alkermes has a twelve month low of $22.01 and a twelve month high of $33.71.

Alkermes (NASDAQ:ALKS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 1st. The company reported $0.43 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.58 by ($0.15). The company had revenue of $350.37 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $360.26 million. Alkermes had a return on equity of 20.31% and a net margin of 25.17%. The business’s revenue was up 21.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned ($0.10) earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Alkermes will post 2.39 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Christian Todd Nichols sold 10,417 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 completion of 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 filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 4.76% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Alkermes by 12.3% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 20,955,454 shares of the company’s stock valued at $581,304,000 after buying an additional 2,288,185 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in Alkermes by 29.8% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 15,241,470 shares of the company’s stock worth $422,798,000 after buying an additional 3,494,678 shares during the last quarter. RTW Investments LP raised its position in Alkermes by 338.8% during the fourth quarter. RTW Investments LP now owns 3,901,523 shares of the company’s stock valued at $108,228,000 after acquiring an additional 3,012,450 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its stake in Alkermes by 4.0% in the third quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 2,761,316 shares of the company’s stock valued at $77,344,000 after acquiring an additional 106,749 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in Alkermes by 3.9% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,403,195 shares of the company’s stock worth $66,666,000 after acquiring an additional 90,219 shares in the last quarter. 95.21% of the stock is 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.