Mackenzie Financial Corp Grows Stock Position in Alkermes plc (NASDAQ:ALKS)

Mackenzie Financial Corp increased its position in shares of Alkermes plc (NASDAQ:ALKS) by 8.2% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 132,252 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 10,027 shares during the quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp’s holdings in Alkermes were worth $3,669,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Emerald Advisers LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Alkermes during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Neo Ivy Capital Management acquired a new stake in Alkermes in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $27,000. CWM LLC increased its holdings in Alkermes by 147.5% in the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,037 shares of the company’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 618 shares during the last quarter. McGlone Suttner Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Alkermes in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Finally, C M Bidwell & Associates Ltd. acquired a new stake in Alkermes in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.21% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Christian Todd Nichols sold 10,417 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 18th. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at $1,852,099.10. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 4.76% of the company’s stock.

Alkermes Price Performance

Shares of ALKS opened at $23.85 on Monday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $27.83 and a 200 day moving average price of $26.99. Alkermes plc 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 stock has a market cap of $4.03 billion, a PE ratio of 11.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.66 and a beta of 0.55.

Alkermes (NASDAQ:ALKS) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The company reported $0.22 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $362.78 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted ($0.02) earnings per share. Alkermes’s quarterly revenue was up 23.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Alkermes plc will post 2.27 EPS for the current year.

Alkermes declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase program on Thursday, February 15th that permits the company to buyback $400.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the company to purchase up to 8.2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $39.00 target price on shares of Alkermes in a report on Monday, April 1st. TheStreet upgraded shares of Alkermes from a “c+” rating to a “b” rating in a report on Thursday, February 15th. Bank of America lifted their target price on shares of Alkermes from $27.00 to $29.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 2nd. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Alkermes from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 23rd. Finally, Robert W. Baird started coverage on shares of Alkermes in a research note on Tuesday, March 19th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $37.00 price target for the company. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $35.38.

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.