Maryland State Retirement & Pension System Buys Shares of 60,652 Alkermes plc (NASDAQ:ALKS)

Maryland State Retirement & Pension System bought a new position in shares of Alkermes plc (NASDAQ:ALKS) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 60,652 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,682,000.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. purchased a new position in Alkermes during the third quarter valued at approximately $387,000. Raymond James & Associates grew its position in Alkermes by 32.4% during the third quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 26,592 shares of the company’s stock worth $745,000 after buying an additional 6,510 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its stake in Alkermes by 4.0% in 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 acquiring an additional 106,749 shares during the last quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank raised its holdings in shares of Alkermes by 7.6% in the 3rd quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 29,366 shares of the company’s stock valued at $823,000 after acquiring an additional 2,082 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mackenzie Financial Corp increased its position in shares of Alkermes by 68.2% in the third quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 122,225 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,403,000 after purchasing an additional 49,561 shares during the last quarter. 95.21% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ALKS has been the subject of several research reports. UBS Group lowered 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. StockNews.com lowered shares of Alkermes from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, May 3rd. HC Wainwright restated a “neutral” rating and set a $35.00 price target on shares of Alkermes in a research report on Thursday, May 2nd. Robert W. Baird began coverage on Alkermes in a report on Tuesday, March 19th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $37.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $39.00 target price on shares of Alkermes in a research note on Monday, April 1st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Alkermes presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $35.38.

Insider Activity

In other Alkermes news, SVP Christian Todd Nichols sold 10,417 shares of Alkermes stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, 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 legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 4.76% of the company’s stock.

Alkermes Trading Down 1.7 %

Alkermes stock traded down $0.43 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $24.16. 45,091 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,868,003. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $26.50 and its 200 day moving average price is $26.70. Alkermes plc has a 52-week low of $22.01 and a 52-week high of $33.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a current ratio of 3.20 and a quick ratio of 2.77. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.72, a P/E/G ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 0.61.

Alkermes (NASDAQ:ALKS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The company reported $0.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.58 by ($0.15). Alkermes had a return on equity of 20.31% and a net margin of 25.17%. The company had revenue of $350.37 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $360.26 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned ($0.10) earnings per share. Alkermes’s quarterly revenue was up 21.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts anticipate that Alkermes plc will post 2.39 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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

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.