New York State Common Retirement Fund Boosts Stake in Alkermes plc (NASDAQ:ALKS)

New York State Common Retirement Fund raised its stake in shares of Alkermes plc (NASDAQ:ALKS) by 3.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 142,480 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,799 shares during the period. New York State Common Retirement Fund’s holdings in Alkermes were worth $4,098,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ALKS. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P lifted its stake in Alkermes by 365.5% in the 3rd quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P now owns 1,882,936 shares of the company’s stock valued at $52,704,000 after buying an additional 1,478,422 shares in the last quarter. Frazier Life Sciences Management L.P. purchased a new position in shares of Alkermes in the 3rd quarter worth $16,126,000. Barclays PLC raised its position in Alkermes by 108.8% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 423,931 shares of the company’s stock valued at $11,867,000 after purchasing an additional 220,893 shares during the period. Edgestream Partners L.P. raised its position in Alkermes by 218.4% in the third quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. now owns 270,671 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,576,000 after purchasing an additional 185,648 shares during the period. Finally, HealthInvest Partners AB raised its position in Alkermes by 243.9% in the third quarter. HealthInvest Partners AB now owns 236,610 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,623,000 after purchasing an additional 167,810 shares during the period. 95.21% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alkermes

In other Alkermes news, EVP Craig C. Hopkinson sold 144,419 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.53, for a total value of $5,131,207.07. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 57,875 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,056,298.75. This trade represents a 71.39 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Cato T. Laurencin sold 2,691 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $31.85, for a total transaction of $85,708.35. Following the sale, the director now owns 23,013 shares in the company, valued at approximately $732,964.05. The trade was a 10.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 318,400 shares of company stock valued at $10,702,911. 4.89% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on Alkermes from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. HC Wainwright restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $46.00 target price on shares of Alkermes in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft began coverage on Alkermes in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. They set a “buy” rating and a $40.00 price objective for the company. Mizuho boosted their price objective on Alkermes from $35.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upgraded Alkermes from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $25.00 to $36.00 in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Two research 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Alkermes currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $38.36.

Alkermes Stock Performance

Shares of ALKS stock opened at $34.33 on Friday. Alkermes plc has a 52-week low of $22.90 and a 52-week high of $36.45. The stock has a market cap of $5.58 billion, a PE ratio of 15.82, a PEG ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.49. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $31.34 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $29.36.

Alkermes (NASDAQ:ALKS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The company reported $0.92 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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, sell-side analysts predict that Alkermes plc will post 1.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.