OCONNOR A Distinct Business Unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC Sells 40,251 Shares of Alkermes plc (NASDAQ:ALKS)

OCONNOR A Distinct Business Unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC cut its holdings in Alkermes plc (NASDAQ:ALKS - Free Report) by 80.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 9,710 shares of the company's stock after selling 40,251 shares during the period. OCONNOR A Distinct Business Unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC's holdings in Alkermes were worth $279,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in ALKS. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Alkermes by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 100,032 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,877,000 after buying an additional 311 shares during the period. Cetera Investment Advisers raised its holdings in Alkermes by 10.4% in the 4th quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 10,645 shares of the company's stock valued at $306,000 after acquiring an additional 999 shares in the last quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors lifted its position in shares of Alkermes by 9.7% in the 4th quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 18,362 shares of the company's stock worth $528,000 after acquiring an additional 1,619 shares during the period. BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its holdings in shares of Alkermes by 45.8% during the 4th quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 217,980 shares of the company's stock worth $6,269,000 after purchasing an additional 68,487 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Allostery Investments LP bought a new stake in shares of Alkermes during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $3,451,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 95.21% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently commented on ALKS shares. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on Alkermes from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on shares of Alkermes from $38.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded shares of Alkermes to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 13th. UBS Group reissued a "sector perform" rating on shares of Alkermes in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price objective on Alkermes from $40.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, March 27th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Alkermes has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $38.33.

Alkermes Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:ALKS traded up $0.21 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $31.42. The company's stock had a trading volume of 992,676 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,765,523. Alkermes plc has a fifty-two week low of $22.90 and a fifty-two week high of $36.45. The company has a market capitalization of $5.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.48, a P/E/G ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.51. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $30.56 and its 200-day simple moving average is $30.70.

Alkermes (NASDAQ:ALKS - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The company reported $0.13 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.32 by ($0.19). Alkermes had a net margin of 23.57% and a return on equity of 30.80%. The company had revenue of $306.51 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $307.53 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.43 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was down 12.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast 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.