Alkermes (NASDAQ:ALKS) Shares Gap Up Following Analyst Upgrade

Alkermes plc (NASDAQ:ALKS) shares gapped up before the market opened on Thursday after Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price target on the stock from $40.00 to $52.00. The stock had previously closed at $33.69, but opened at $34.41. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft currently has a buy rating on the stock. Alkermes shares last traded at $34.25, with a volume of 138,247 shares traded.

A number of other research firms have also recently weighed in on ALKS. HC Wainwright reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $46.00 price objective on shares of Alkermes in a report on Thursday, February 13th. StockNews.com raised Alkermes from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. UBS Group raised Alkermes from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $21.00 to $38.00 in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on Alkermes from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada started coverage on Alkermes in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. They issued a “sector perform” rating and a $40.00 price target for the company. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $39.38.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Alkermes news, EVP Craig C. Hopkinson sold 144,419 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.53, for a total value of $5,131,207.07. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 57,875 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,056,298.75. This represents a 71.39 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 4.89% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Alkermes

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of ALKS. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Alkermes by 60.5% during the fourth quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 16,107 shares of the company’s stock valued at $463,000 after purchasing an additional 6,073 shares during the last quarter. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH purchased a new stake in Alkermes during the fourth quarter valued at about $3,273,000. Mackenzie Financial Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Alkermes by 9.0% in the fourth quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 332,626 shares of the company’s stock worth $9,566,000 after buying an additional 27,604 shares during the period. GF Fund Management CO. LTD. purchased a new position in shares of Alkermes in the fourth quarter worth approximately $98,000. Finally, Vise Technologies Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Alkermes by 16.2% during the fourth quarter. Vise Technologies Inc. now owns 19,801 shares of the company’s stock valued at $569,000 after acquiring an additional 2,755 shares during the period. 95.21% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Alkermes Price Performance

The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $33.45 and its 200-day moving average price is $30.26. The firm has a market cap of $5.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.62.

Alkermes (NASDAQ:ALKS) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The company reported $0.92 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.81 by $0.11. Alkermes had a net margin of 23.57% and a return on equity of 30.80%. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Alkermes plc will post 1.31 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.