Ieq Capital LLC Buys New Shares in Alkermes plc (NASDAQ:ALKS)

Ieq Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Alkermes plc (NASDAQ:ALKS) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 36,763 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,057,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P grew its holdings in Alkermes by 365.5% in the third quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P now owns 1,882,936 shares of the company’s stock valued at $52,704,000 after purchasing an additional 1,478,422 shares during the period. Frazier Life Sciences Management L.P. acquired a new position in shares of Alkermes in the 3rd quarter valued at $16,126,000. Barclays PLC grew its stake in shares of Alkermes by 108.8% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 423,931 shares of the company’s stock valued at $11,867,000 after buying an additional 220,893 shares during the period. Edgestream Partners L.P. increased its holdings in shares of Alkermes by 218.4% during the 3rd quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. now owns 270,671 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,576,000 after buying an additional 185,648 shares during the last quarter. Finally, HealthInvest Partners AB raised its position in shares of Alkermes by 243.9% in the 3rd quarter. HealthInvest Partners AB now owns 236,610 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,623,000 after buying an additional 167,810 shares during the period. 95.21% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Alkermes Price Performance

Alkermes stock opened at $35.52 on Tuesday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $30.89 and its 200 day moving average price is $29.10. The company has a market capitalization of $5.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.49. Alkermes plc has a 12-month low of $22.90 and a 12-month high of $36.45.

Alkermes (NASDAQ:ALKS) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The company reported $0.92 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.81 by $0.11. Alkermes had a return on equity of 30.80% and a net margin of 23.57%. Analysts forecast that Alkermes plc will post 1.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Craig C. Hopkinson sold 144,419 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.53, for a total value of $5,131,207.07. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 57,875 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,056,298.75. This represents a 71.39 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Christian Todd Nichols sold 5,208 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.15, for a total transaction of $151,813.20. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 60,703 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,769,492.45. This represents a 7.90 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 323,608 shares of company stock worth $10,854,725. 4.89% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have issued reports on ALKS. Mizuho boosted their price target on Alkermes from $35.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. StockNews.com upgraded Alkermes from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. HC Wainwright restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $46.00 price target on shares of Alkermes in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Stifel Nicolaus raised shares of Alkermes from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $25.00 to $36.00 in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on shares of Alkermes from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Alkermes currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $38.36.

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.