Alkermes (NASDAQ:ALKS) Shares Gap Up to $25.93

Alkermes plc (NASDAQ:ALKS - Get Free Report)'s share price gapped up prior to trading on Tuesday . The stock had previously closed at $25.93, but opened at $27.29. Alkermes shares last traded at $26.62, with a volume of 678,708 shares.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently commented on ALKS. UBS Group cut Alkermes from a "neutral" rating to a "sell" rating and set a $25.00 target price for the company. in a report on Tuesday, February 20th. Bank of America boosted their price objective on Alkermes from $27.00 to $29.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, January 2nd. TheStreet upgraded Alkermes from a "c+" rating to a "b" rating in a report on Thursday, February 15th. Piper Sandler restated an "overweight" rating and set a $39.00 price objective on shares of Alkermes in a report on Monday, April 1st. Finally, Robert W. Baird began coverage on Alkermes in a report on Tuesday, March 19th. They set an "outperform" rating and a $37.00 price objective for the company. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Alkermes presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $35.25.

Alkermes Stock Up 3.1 %

The firm has a market capitalization of $4.47 billion, a PE ratio of 13.04 and a beta of 0.56. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $28.24 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $27.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a quick ratio of 2.50 and a current ratio of 2.86.

Alkermes (NASDAQ:ALKS - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The company reported $0.22 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.51 by ($0.29). The company had revenue of $377.50 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $362.78 million. Alkermes had a return on equity of 16.10% and a net margin of 21.39%. The company's revenue was up 23.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted ($0.02) earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Alkermes plc will post 2.23 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alkermes declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback plan on Thursday, February 15th that allows the company to buyback $400.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to purchase up to 8.2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are often a sign that the company's board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity at Alkermes

In related news, SVP Christian Todd Nichols sold 10,417 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.10, for a total transaction of $292,717.70. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 65,911 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,852,099.10. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 4.76% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ALKS. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC grew its stake in Alkermes by 6.1% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 7,830 shares of the company's stock valued at $219,000 after purchasing an additional 452 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in Alkermes by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 76,043 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,130,000 after purchasing an additional 481 shares during the last quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. grew its stake in Alkermes by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 195,581 shares of the company's stock valued at $5,111,000 after purchasing an additional 500 shares during the last quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. grew its stake in Alkermes by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. now owns 122,916 shares of the company's stock valued at $3,443,000 after purchasing an additional 529 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Captrust Financial Advisors grew its stake in Alkermes by 4.3% during the 4th quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 13,402 shares of the company's stock valued at $350,000 after purchasing an additional 555 shares during the last quarter. 95.21% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.