83,500 Shares in Alkermes plc (NASDAQ:ALKS) Acquired by Louisiana State Employees Retirement System

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System bought a new position in shares of Alkermes plc (NASDAQ:ALKS - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund bought 83,500 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,316,000. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System owned 0.05% of Alkermes at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Alkermes by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 18,667,269 shares of the company's stock worth $522,870,000 after acquiring an additional 72,797 shares during the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. increased its holdings in Alkermes by 1.2% in the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 16,621,253 shares of the company's stock worth $468,553,000 after acquiring an additional 197,079 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in Alkermes by 52.7% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 11,746,792 shares of the company's stock worth $329,028,000 after acquiring an additional 4,055,926 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its holdings in Alkermes by 9.4% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 6,467,201 shares of the company's stock worth $144,413,000 after acquiring an additional 556,097 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC increased its holdings in Alkermes by 1.2% in the 1st quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 4,868,013 shares of the company's stock worth $128,077,000 after acquiring an additional 57,068 shares during the last quarter. 95.21% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently weighed in on ALKS. TheStreet raised Alkermes from a "c+" rating to a "b" rating in a report on Thursday, February 15th. Robert W. Baird began coverage on Alkermes in a report on Tuesday, March 19th. They set an "outperform" rating and a $37.00 target price for the company. UBS Group lowered 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. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and set a $39.00 target price on shares of Alkermes in a report on Monday, April 1st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on Alkermes from $42.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $35.25.

Insider Transactions at Alkermes

In other news, SVP Christian Todd Nichols sold 10,417 shares of the business'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 completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 65,911 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,852,099.10. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 4.76% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Alkermes Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ ALKS traded up $0.24 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $24.01. 2,257,028 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,913,715. Alkermes plc has a 12-month low of $22.01 and a 12-month high of $33.71. The company has a current ratio of 2.86, a quick ratio of 2.50 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. The company has a market cap of $4.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.60, a PEG ratio of 0.66 and a beta of 0.55. The business's fifty day moving average price is $27.96 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $27.05.

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

Alkermes announced that its board has authorized a share buyback program on Thursday, February 15th that permits the company to repurchase $400.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to buy up to 8.2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are generally a sign that the company's board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

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.