Vanguard Group Inc. Trims Stock Position in Alkermes plc (NASDAQ:ALKS)

Vanguard Group Inc. trimmed its holdings in shares of Alkermes plc (NASDAQ:ALKS - Free Report) by 1.5% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 18,212,674 shares of the company's stock after selling 283,511 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. owned approximately 11.05% of Alkermes worth $601,382,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Avoro Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Alkermes during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $70,462,000. RTW Investments LP raised its stake in Alkermes by 13.6% in the fourth quarter. RTW Investments LP now owns 7,557,835 shares of the company's stock worth $217,363,000 after buying an additional 903,802 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC raised its stake in Alkermes by 109.5% in the fourth quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 1,659,821 shares of the company's stock worth $47,736,000 after buying an additional 867,492 shares in the last quarter. Mesirow Institutional Investment Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Alkermes during the fourth quarter worth $10,839,000. Finally, Stempoint Capital LP increased its position in shares of Alkermes by 752.4% during the fourth quarter. Stempoint Capital LP now owns 416,968 shares of the company's stock worth $11,992,000 after purchasing an additional 368,050 shares in the last quarter. 95.21% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently issued reports on ALKS. Needham & Company LLC reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $45.00 target price on shares of Alkermes in a research report on Tuesday, July 29th. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their target price on shares of Alkermes from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on shares of Alkermes in a research note on Tuesday, July 15th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $43.00 price target on the stock. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Alkermes from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, May 5th. Finally, HC Wainwright reissued a "neutral" rating and issued a $46.00 target price on shares of Alkermes in a research note on Monday, July 21st. Three equities research 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 company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $41.08.

Insider Activity at Alkermes

In other Alkermes 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 transaction, the senior vice president owned 86,208 shares in the company, valued at $2,680,206.72. The trade was a 3.72% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 4.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Alkermes Trading Up 2.8%

Alkermes stock traded up $0.79 during trading on Friday, hitting $29.05. The company had a trading volume of 1,590,931 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,053,437. Alkermes plc has a 1-year low of $25.56 and a 1-year high of $36.45. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $28.53 and its 200-day simple moving average is $30.55. The stock has a market cap of $4.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.61 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 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.42 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $390.66 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $343.20 million. Alkermes had a net margin of 23.15% and a return on equity of 24.86%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was down 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.16 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Alkermes plc will post 1.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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.