First Trust Advisors LP Sells 287,484 Shares of Alkermes plc (NASDAQ:ALKS)

First Trust Advisors LP lowered its position in Alkermes plc (NASDAQ:ALKS - Free Report) by 16.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 1,493,651 shares of the company's stock after selling 287,484 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP owned about 0.92% of Alkermes worth $42,957,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of ALKS. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board lifted its position in shares of Alkermes by 3.2% in the fourth quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 295,600 shares of the company's stock valued at $8,501,000 after acquiring an additional 9,300 shares in the last quarter. Farringdon Capital Ltd. purchased a new position in Alkermes in the 4th quarter worth approximately $204,000. Affinity Asset Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Alkermes by 10.0% in the 4th quarter. Affinity Asset Advisors LLC now owns 1,100,000 shares of the company's stock worth $31,636,000 after purchasing an additional 100,000 shares during the period. Jump Financial LLC bought a new position in Alkermes in the 4th quarter worth approximately $453,000. Finally, Barclays PLC grew its holdings in Alkermes by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 425,777 shares of the company's stock valued at $12,244,000 after buying an additional 1,846 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 95.21% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their target price on shares of Alkermes from $40.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 27th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on shares of Alkermes from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. StockNews.com raised Alkermes from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. UBS Group reaffirmed a "sector perform" rating on shares of Alkermes in a research note on Monday. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an "underperform" rating on shares of Alkermes in a research report on Monday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Alkermes has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $38.08.

Insider Transactions at Alkermes

In other Alkermes news, EVP Craig C. Hopkinson sold 144,419 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.53, for a total value of $5,131,207.07. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 57,875 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,056,298.75. This represents a 71.39 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 4.40% of the company's stock.

Alkermes Stock Performance

ALKS stock traded up $0.33 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $28.24. 215,133 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,752,242. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $31.76 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $30.43. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.65 billion, a PE ratio of 13.01, a PEG ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.39. Alkermes plc has a one year low of $22.90 and a one year high of $36.45.

Alkermes (NASDAQ:ALKS - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The company reported $0.92 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.81 by $0.11. Alkermes had a net margin of 23.57% and a return on equity of 30.80%. On average, equities analysts expect that Alkermes plc will post 1.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alkermes 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.