Needham & Company LLC Reaffirms "Buy" Rating for Alkermes (NASDAQ:ALKS)

Key Points

• Needham & Company LLC has reaffirmed a "buy" rating for Alkermes' stock, with a price target of $45.00, indicating a potential upside of 72.08% from the current price.
• Alkermes reported a quarterly earnings loss with $0.13 EPS, missing the consensus estimate of $0.32, and a revenue decrease of 12.6% year-over-year.
• Consensus rating for Alkermes is currently a "Moderate Buy," with nine analysts assigning a buy rating and a consensus price target set at $40.92.

Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed their buy rating on shares of Alkermes (NASDAQ:ALKS - Free Report) in a report issued on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. Needham & Company LLC currently has a $45.00 price target on the stock.

Other equities analysts have also issued reports about the stock. UBS Group raised shares of Alkermes from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and raised their price target for the stock from $33.00 to $42.00 in a research report on Tuesday, June 17th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Alkermes from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, May 5th. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on shares of Alkermes from $38.00 to $41.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on shares of Alkermes in a report on Tuesday, July 15th. They set a "buy" rating and a $43.00 target price for the company. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald raised shares of Alkermes to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, May 13th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $41.08.

Alkermes Price Performance

ALKS traded up $0.06 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $26.55. 1,587,001 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,172,861. Alkermes has a 1 year low of $25.56 and a 1 year high of $36.45. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 0.44. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $29.21 and its 200-day simple moving average is $30.77.

Alkermes (NASDAQ:ALKS - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 29th. The company reported $0.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.42 by $0.10. Alkermes had a net margin of 23.15% and a return on equity of 24.86%. The company had revenue of $390.66 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $343.20 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.16 EPS. Alkermes's revenue for the quarter was down 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that Alkermes will post 1.31 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Christian Todd Nichols sold 3,334 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $31.09, for a total value of $103,654.06. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 86,208 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,680,206.72. The trade was a 3.72% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 4.40% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Alkermes

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. boosted its stake in Alkermes by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 100,032 shares of the company's stock worth $2,877,000 after purchasing an additional 311 shares during the last quarter. Diversified Trust Co boosted its stake in Alkermes by 0.8% during the 2nd quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 44,232 shares of the company's stock worth $1,265,000 after purchasing an additional 372 shares during the last quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP boosted its stake in Alkermes by 54.5% during the 1st quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 1,091 shares of the company's stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 385 shares during the last quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System boosted its stake in Alkermes by 0.5% during the 2nd quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 77,000 shares of the company's stock worth $2,203,000 after purchasing an additional 400 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hohimer Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in Alkermes by 3.8% during the 1st quarter. Hohimer Wealth Management LLC now owns 12,362 shares of the company's stock worth $408,000 after purchasing an additional 450 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 95.21% of the company's stock.

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.