Alkermes (NASDAQ:ALKS) Downgraded by StockNews.com

StockNews.com lowered shares of Alkermes (NASDAQ:ALKS) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note released on Friday.

ALKS has been the topic of a number of other reports. Robert W. Baird started coverage on Alkermes in a research note on Tuesday, March 19th. They issued an outperform rating and a $37.00 price objective on the stock. HC Wainwright reiterated a neutral rating and set a $35.00 price target on shares of Alkermes in a report on Thursday, May 2nd. UBS Group downgraded shares of Alkermes from a neutral rating to a sell rating and set a $25.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Tuesday, February 20th. TheStreet upgraded shares of Alkermes from a c+ rating to a b rating in a research note on Thursday, February 15th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on shares of Alkermes from $42.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of Hold and an average target price of $35.38.

Alkermes Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ ALKS opened at $24.10 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $4.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 0.61. 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 business’s 50-day moving average price is $26.61 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $26.71. Alkermes has a one year low of $22.01 and a one year high of $33.71.

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

Alkermes declared that its board has approved a share repurchase program on Thursday, February 15th that allows the company to buyback $400.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to repurchase up to 8.2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity

In other Alkermes news, SVP Christian Todd Nichols sold 10,417 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $28.10, for a total transaction of $292,717.70. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 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. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in shares of Alkermes by 52.7% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 11,746,792 shares of the company’s stock valued at $329,028,000 after purchasing an additional 4,055,926 shares in the last quarter. RTW Investments LP lifted its holdings in Alkermes by 338.8% during the 4th quarter. RTW Investments LP now owns 3,901,523 shares of the company’s stock valued at $108,228,000 after purchasing an additional 3,012,450 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Alkermes by 12.3% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 20,955,454 shares of the company’s stock valued at $581,304,000 after buying an additional 2,288,185 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Alkermes during the fourth quarter worth about $55,548,000. Finally, Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Alkermes during the third quarter worth approximately $36,171,000. 95.21% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.