Alkermes (NASDAQ:ALKS) Rating Reiterated by HC Wainwright

HC Wainwright restated their neutral rating on shares of Alkermes (NASDAQ:ALKS - Free Report) in a research report sent to investors on Friday morning, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $35.00 target price on the stock.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on the company. Robert W. Baird assumed coverage on Alkermes in a report on Tuesday, March 19th. They set an outperform rating and a $37.00 price objective for the company. TheStreet upgraded Alkermes from a c+ rating to a b rating in a report on Thursday, February 15th. 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. StockNews.com cut Alkermes from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a report on Friday, February 23rd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on Alkermes from $42.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $35.38.

Alkermes Trading Up 0.4 %

Shares of Alkermes stock traded up $0.09 on Friday, reaching $23.85. The company had a trading volume of 2,414,813 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,918,796. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $27.83 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $27.00. Alkermes has a 1 year low of $22.01 and a 1 year high of $33.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a current ratio of 2.86 and a quick ratio of 2.50. The firm has a market cap of $4.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.52, a P/E/G ratio of 0.66 and a beta of 0.55.

Alkermes (NASDAQ:ALKS - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 15th. The company reported $0.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.51 by ($0.29). Alkermes had a net margin of 21.39% and a return on equity of 16.10%. The business had revenue of $377.50 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $362.78 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned ($0.02) EPS. Alkermes's revenue was up 23.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Alkermes will post 2.23 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alkermes declared that its board has approved a stock buyback program on Thursday, February 15th that authorizes the company to repurchase $400.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the company to repurchase up to 8.2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often an indication that the company's management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Transactions 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. Corporate insiders own 4.76% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. JPMorgan Chase & Co. purchased a new stake in Alkermes during the 1st quarter valued at about $4,369,000. Raymond James & Associates grew its stake in Alkermes by 132.4% during the 1st quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 32,763 shares of the company's stock valued at $862,000 after purchasing an additional 18,667 shares during the last quarter. US Bancorp DE grew its stake in Alkermes by 24.0% during the 1st quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 10,571 shares of the company's stock valued at $279,000 after purchasing an additional 2,044 shares during the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can purchased a new stake in shares of Alkermes in the first quarter worth about $203,000. Finally, Acadian Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Alkermes by 660.7% in the first quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 21,945 shares of the company's stock worth $576,000 after buying an additional 19,060 shares during the last quarter. 95.21% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.