Alkermes (NASDAQ:ALKS) Price Target Raised to $48.00

Alkermes (NASDAQ:ALKS) had its price objective increased by Cantor Fitzgerald from $43.00 to $48.00 in a research report report published on Thursday morning, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an overweight rating on the stock.

Several other research analysts also recently commented on ALKS. HC Wainwright reaffirmed a neutral rating and issued a $35.00 price target on shares of Alkermes in a research note on Thursday, May 2nd. TheStreet upgraded shares of Alkermes from a c+ rating to a b rating in a report on Thursday, February 15th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on shares of Alkermes from $42.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. UBS Group cut shares of Alkermes from a neutral rating to a sell rating and set a $25.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Tuesday, February 20th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Alkermes from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report on Friday, May 3rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Alkermes has an average rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $36.78.

Alkermes Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of ALKS opened at $24.02 on Thursday. Alkermes has a twelve month low of $22.01 and a twelve month high of $33.71. The company has a market cap of $4.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.49, a P/E/G ratio of 0.48 and a beta of 0.61. The company has a current ratio of 3.20, a quick ratio of 2.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $25.20 and its 200-day simple moving average is $26.67.

Alkermes (NASDAQ:ALKS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The company reported $0.43 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.58 by ($0.15). The company had revenue of $350.37 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $360.26 million. Alkermes had a return on equity of 20.31% and a net margin of 25.17%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 21.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned ($0.10) EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Alkermes will post 2.27 EPS for the current year.

Alkermes declared that its board has initiated 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 purchase up to 8.2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Alkermes news, SVP Christian Todd Nichols sold 10,417 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 directly owns 65,911 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,852,099.10. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 4.89% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Alkermes

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Handelsbanken Fonder AB increased its holdings in shares of Alkermes by 521.3% during the 4th quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 175,200 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,860,000 after purchasing an additional 147,000 shares in the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its holdings in shares of Alkermes by 81.4% during the 4th quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 377,489 shares of the company’s stock valued at $10,472,000 after purchasing an additional 169,385 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Alkermes by 1,150.2% during the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 939,542 shares of the company’s stock valued at $26,063,000 after purchasing an additional 864,389 shares in the last quarter. LSV Asset Management purchased a new position in shares of Alkermes during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $3,246,000. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC increased its holdings in shares of Alkermes by 33.4% during the 4th quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 36,335 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,008,000 after purchasing an additional 9,106 shares in the last quarter. 95.21% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.