Teacher Retirement System of Texas Increases Stock Position in Alkermes plc (NASDAQ:ALKS)

Teacher Retirement System of Texas raised its stake in shares of Alkermes plc (NASDAQ:ALKS) by 14.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 46,338 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 6,018 shares during the period. Teacher Retirement System of Texas’ holdings in Alkermes were worth $1,333,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in ALKS. Advisors Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in Alkermes by 21.1% during the 3rd quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 10,158 shares of the company’s stock valued at $284,000 after buying an additional 1,771 shares in the last quarter. Citigroup Inc. boosted its position in shares of Alkermes by 41.1% during the 3rd quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 224,858 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,294,000 after acquiring an additional 65,536 shares during the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Alkermes in the third quarter valued at $439,000. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. increased its position in Alkermes by 56.9% in the third quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 13,241 shares of the company’s stock worth $371,000 after purchasing an additional 4,800 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its position in Alkermes by 7.5% in the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 260,785 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,299,000 after purchasing an additional 18,147 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.21% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Alkermes

In other news, EVP Craig C. Hopkinson sold 100,918 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.05, for a total transaction of $3,234,421.90. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 44,290 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,419,494.50. This represents a 69.50 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 4.89% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have commented on ALKS. UBS Group raised shares of Alkermes from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $21.00 to $38.00 in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price target on Alkermes from $40.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on Alkermes from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Royal Bank of Canada assumed coverage on Alkermes in a report on Thursday, March 13th. They issued a “sector perform” rating and a $40.00 target price for the company. Finally, StockNews.com raised Alkermes from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $39.38.

Alkermes Stock Down 1.0 %

ALKS stock opened at $33.21 on Friday. Alkermes plc has a twelve month low of $22.90 and a twelve month high of $36.45. The firm has a market cap of $5.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.30, a PEG ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.62. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $33.45 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $30.26.

Alkermes (NASDAQ:ALKS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The company reported $0.92 EPS for the quarter, topping 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%. Research analysts expect that Alkermes plc will post 1.31 EPS for the current year.

Alkermes 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.