Brokerages Set Alkermes plc (NASDAQ:ALKS) Price Target at $38.36

Shares of Alkermes plc (NASDAQ:ALKS) have been assigned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the eleven analysts that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and nine have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price target among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $38.36.

Several equities analysts have recently commented on ALKS shares. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on shares of Alkermes from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. Mizuho boosted their price target on shares of Alkermes from $35.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. Stifel Nicolaus raised shares of Alkermes from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $25.00 to $36.00 in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft assumed coverage on Alkermes in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $40.00 target price on the stock. Finally, HC Wainwright reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $46.00 price target on shares of Alkermes in a research note on Thursday, February 13th.

Alkermes Stock Performance

Shares of ALKS stock opened at $34.33 on Monday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $31.34 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $29.36. Alkermes has a 52-week low of $22.90 and a 52-week high of $36.45. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.58 billion, a PE ratio of 15.82, a PEG ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.49.

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

Insider Transactions at Alkermes

In related news, EVP Craig C. Hopkinson sold 9,221 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $31.50, for a total value of $290,461.50. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 59,730 shares in the company, valued at $1,881,495. This trade represents a 13.37 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Cato T. Laurencin sold 2,691 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $31.85, for a total transaction of $85,708.35. Following the transaction, the director now owns 23,013 shares in the company, valued at $732,964.05. This trade represents a 10.47 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 318,400 shares of company stock worth $10,702,911. 4.89% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of ALKS. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH bought a new stake in shares of Alkermes during the 4th quarter worth approximately $3,273,000. Mackenzie Financial Corp increased its stake in Alkermes by 9.0% in the fourth quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 332,626 shares of the company’s stock worth $9,566,000 after purchasing an additional 27,604 shares during the period. GF Fund Management CO. LTD. bought a new stake in shares of Alkermes during the fourth quarter worth $98,000. Vise Technologies Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Alkermes by 16.2% during the fourth quarter. Vise Technologies Inc. now owns 19,801 shares of the company’s stock valued at $569,000 after purchasing an additional 2,755 shares during the period. Finally, Frazier Life Sciences Management L.P. grew its holdings in shares of Alkermes by 4.3% in the fourth quarter. Frazier Life Sciences Management L.P. now owns 601,129 shares of the company’s stock worth $17,288,000 after purchasing an additional 25,000 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.21% of the company’s stock.

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.