AXS Investments LLC Acquires Shares of 31,200 Alkermes plc (NASDAQ:ALKS)

Key Points

• AXS Investments LLC recently acquired 31,200 shares of Alkermes plc, valued at approximately $1,030,000.
• 95.21% of Alkermes' stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds, with multiple firms increasing their positions in the company during the fourth quarter.
• Alkermes reported an EPS of $0.52, exceeding the consensus estimate of $0.42, alongside a revenue of $390.66 million for the last quarter.

AXS Investments LLC bought a new position in shares of Alkermes plc (NASDAQ:ALKS - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 31,200 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,030,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. USA Financial Formulas purchased a new position in shares of Alkermes during the 1st quarter valued at $49,000. Fifth Third Bancorp raised its position in shares of Alkermes by 54.4% during the 1st quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 1,479 shares of the company's stock valued at $49,000 after buying an additional 521 shares in the last quarter. GF Fund Management CO. LTD. purchased a new stake in shares of Alkermes during the 4th quarter valued at $98,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in shares of Alkermes by 31.9% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 5,396 shares of the company's stock valued at $178,000 after buying an additional 1,305 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Farringdon Capital Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Alkermes during the 4th quarter valued at $204,000. 95.21% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price objective on shares of Alkermes from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on shares of Alkermes in a research note on Tuesday, July 15th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $43.00 price objective for the company. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $45.00 price objective on shares of Alkermes in a research note on Tuesday, July 29th. HC Wainwright reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and issued a $46.00 price objective on shares of Alkermes in a research note on Monday, July 21st. Finally, UBS Group raised shares of Alkermes from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and upped their price objective for the company from $33.00 to $42.00 in a research note on Tuesday, June 17th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $41.08.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Christian Todd Nichols sold 3,334 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $31.09, for a total value of $103,654.06. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 86,208 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,680,206.72. This represents a 3.72% 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. 4.40% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Alkermes Stock Up 0.5%

Shares of NASDAQ:ALKS traded up $0.12 on Friday, hitting $26.71. The company had a trading volume of 1,371,383 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,159,947. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $28.87 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $30.66. Alkermes plc has a 1 year low of $25.56 and a 1 year high of $36.45. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.84, a P/E/G ratio of 1.52 and a beta of 0.47.

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