Insider Selling: Alkermes (NASDAQ:ALKS) EVP Sells $70,315.38 in Stock

Alkermes plc (NASDAQ:ALKS) EVP David Joseph Gaffin sold 2,034 shares of Alkermes stock in a transaction on Monday, April 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.57, for a total transaction of $70,315.38. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 233,592 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,075,275.44. This represents a 0.86% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

David Joseph Gaffin also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Monday, March 2nd, David Joseph Gaffin sold 2,034 shares of Alkermes stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.29, for a total transaction of $59,575.86.

Alkermes Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ ALKS opened at $34.77 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $5.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.31, a P/E/G ratio of 8.69 and a beta of 0.44. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $31.45 and its two-hundred day moving average is $30.52. Alkermes plc has a 52-week low of $25.17 and a 52-week high of $36.48.

Alkermes (NASDAQ:ALKS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 26th. The company reported $0.29 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.43 by ($0.14). The company had revenue of $384.55 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $380.44 million. Alkermes had a net margin of 16.37% and a return on equity of 14.91%. The business’s revenue was down 10.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.05 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Alkermes plc will post 1.31 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Alkermes

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Baker BROS. Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of Alkermes by 23.7% during the 4th quarter. Baker BROS. Advisors LP now owns 10,012,267 shares of the company’s stock worth $280,143,000 after purchasing an additional 1,920,916 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of Alkermes by 10.9% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 9,472,858 shares of the company’s stock worth $265,051,000 after purchasing an additional 932,507 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC boosted its stake in shares of Alkermes by 6.0% during the 4th quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 6,668,028 shares of the company’s stock worth $186,571,000 after purchasing an additional 375,500 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in shares of Alkermes by 32.0% during the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 5,184,547 shares of the company’s stock worth $145,064,000 after purchasing an additional 1,256,377 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of Alkermes by 19.3% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,412,783 shares of the company’s stock worth $123,467,000 after purchasing an additional 714,787 shares during the period. 95.21% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have commented on ALKS. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Alkermes from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 28th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Alkermes in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Wolfe Research began coverage on shares of Alkermes in a research note on Monday, February 23rd. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $45.00 price objective for the company. Royal Bank Of Canada dropped their price objective on shares of Alkermes from $47.00 to $45.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 26th. Finally, HC Wainwright reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $43.00 price objective on shares of Alkermes in a research note on Thursday, February 26th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Alkermes presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $43.93.

About Alkermes

Alkermes plc is a biopharmaceutical company focused on developing innovative medicines to address unmet needs in the central nervous system (CNS). The company applies its proprietary drug delivery technologies and therapeutic expertise to advance treatments for addiction, schizophrenia, bipolar I disorder and depression. Alkermes’ portfolio includes both commercial products and a pipeline of investigational therapies designed to improve patient outcomes and support long-term disease management.

Alkermes’ commercial franchise features several approved products.