EcoR1 Capital LLC Makes New Investment in Alkermes plc $ALKS

EcoR1 Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Alkermes plc (NASDAQ:ALKS) in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund purchased 500,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,305,000. Alkermes comprises 0.8% of EcoR1 Capital LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 22nd biggest position. EcoR1 Capital LLC owned approximately 0.30% of Alkermes as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of Alkermes by 2.3% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 8,208,256 shares of the company’s stock worth $234,838,000 after purchasing an additional 185,586 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in shares of Alkermes by 488.6% during the 1st quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 5,234,995 shares of the company’s stock worth $172,860,000 after purchasing an additional 4,345,523 shares during the period. Baker BROS. Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of Alkermes by 7.2% in the 1st quarter. Baker BROS. Advisors LP now owns 4,483,285 shares of the company’s stock worth $148,038,000 after purchasing an additional 301,534 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Alkermes by 2.1% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,023,552 shares of the company’s stock valued at $115,128,000 after purchasing an additional 83,858 shares during the period. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. grew its stake in Alkermes by 5.5% during the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 3,657,223 shares of the company’s stock worth $104,633,000 after buying an additional 191,549 shares during the last quarter. 95.21% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on shares of Alkermes from $42.00 to $37.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, November 13th. Truist Financial boosted their price objective on Alkermes from $50.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 17th. Needham & Company LLC lifted their target price on Alkermes from $43.00 to $44.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Alkermes in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Zacks Research downgraded shares of Alkermes from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, November 20th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $44.69.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Craig C. Hopkinson sold 9,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $30.38, for a total transaction of $273,420.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 69,740 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,118,701.20. The trade was a 11.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 25,748 shares of company stock valued at $786,830. Insiders own 4.40% of the company’s stock.

Alkermes Price Performance

NASDAQ ALKS opened at $28.50 on Friday. Alkermes plc has a 12 month low of $25.17 and a 12 month high of $36.45. The company has a market capitalization of $4.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.11 and a beta of 0.49. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $30.30 and its 200 day simple moving average is $29.32.

Alkermes (NASDAQ:ALKS) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 28th. The company reported $0.49 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.41 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $394.19 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $355.23 million. Alkermes had a net margin of 22.27% and a return on equity of 21.81%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.73 earnings per share. Alkermes has set its FY 2025 guidance at 1.360-1.470 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Alkermes plc will post 1.31 earnings per share for the current 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.