California Public Employees Retirement System Has $26.77 Million Stock Position in Alkermes plc (NASDAQ:ALKS)

California Public Employees Retirement System reduced its stake in shares of Alkermes plc (NASDAQ:ALKS) by 0.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 965,192 shares of the company’s stock after selling 2,612 shares during the quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System owned 0.58% of Alkermes worth $26,774,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of ALKS. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Alkermes by 0.4% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 18,667,269 shares of the company’s stock valued at $522,870,000 after acquiring an additional 72,797 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position in Alkermes by 52.7% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 11,746,792 shares of the company’s stock valued at $329,028,000 after acquiring an additional 4,055,926 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its position 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. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in Alkermes by 5.6% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,162,198 shares of the company’s stock valued at $60,563,000 after acquiring an additional 114,388 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp grew its position in Alkermes by 0.8% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,688,887 shares of the company’s stock valued at $47,306,000 after acquiring an additional 13,545 shares during the last quarter. 95.21% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Alkermes Trading Up 1.0 %

Shares of ALKS stock opened at $24.68 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $4.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.92, a PEG ratio of 0.67 and a beta of 0.55. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $27.30 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $26.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a quick ratio of 2.50 and a current ratio of 2.86. Alkermes plc has a fifty-two week low of $22.01 and a fifty-two week high of $33.71.

Alkermes (NASDAQ:ALKS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 15th. The company reported $0.22 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.51 by ($0.29). The firm had revenue of $377.50 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $362.78 million. Alkermes had a net margin of 21.39% and a return on equity of 16.10%. The company’s revenue was up 23.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned ($0.02) EPS. Research analysts forecast that Alkermes plc will post 2.24 earnings per share for the current year.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Christian Todd Nichols sold 10,417 shares of the company’s 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 owns 65,911 shares in the company, valued at $1,852,099.10. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 4.76% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have issued reports on ALKS. HC Wainwright reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $35.00 target price on shares of Alkermes in a research report on Friday, April 19th. Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $39.00 target price on shares of Alkermes in a research report on Monday, April 1st. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on Alkermes from $42.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. UBS Group lowered Alkermes from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $25.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Tuesday, February 20th. Finally, Robert W. Baird initiated coverage on Alkermes in a research note on Tuesday, March 19th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $37.00 price target on the stock. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Alkermes presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $35.38.

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.