Jennison Associates LLC Boosts Stock Position in Alkermes plc (NASDAQ:ALKS)

Jennison Associates LLC grew its stake in Alkermes plc (NASDAQ:ALKS) by 33.4% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 36,335 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 9,106 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC’s holdings in Alkermes were worth $1,008,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Alkermes by 0.4% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 18,667,269 shares of the company’s stock valued at $522,870,000 after acquiring an additional 72,797 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its holdings in shares of Alkermes by 52.7% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 11,746,792 shares of the company’s stock valued at $329,028,000 after acquiring an additional 4,055,926 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its holdings in shares of Alkermes by 4.0% during the third quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 2,761,316 shares of the company’s stock valued at $77,344,000 after acquiring an additional 106,749 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Alkermes by 5.6% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,162,198 shares of the company’s stock valued at $60,563,000 after acquiring an additional 114,388 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in shares of Alkermes by 0.8% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,688,887 shares of the company’s stock valued at $47,306,000 after acquiring an additional 13,545 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 95.21% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ALKS has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. UBS Group cut 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. Bank of America upped their price target on Alkermes from $27.00 to $29.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 2nd. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $39.00 price target on shares of Alkermes in a research report on Monday, April 1st. TheStreet upgraded Alkermes from a “c+” rating to a “b” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 15th. Finally, Robert W. Baird initiated coverage on Alkermes in a research report on Tuesday, March 19th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $37.00 price target for the company. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $35.38.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Christian Todd Nichols sold 10,417 shares of Alkermes stock in a transaction on Monday, March 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.10, for a total value of $292,717.70. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly 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 is available at this link. Insiders own 4.76% of the company’s stock.

Alkermes Trading Up 1.0 %

Shares of Alkermes stock opened at $24.68 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.92, a PEG ratio of 0.67 and a beta of 0.55. Alkermes plc has a fifty-two week low of $22.01 and a fifty-two week high of $33.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a quick ratio of 2.50 and a current ratio of 2.86. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $27.30 and a 200 day moving average of $26.86.

Alkermes (NASDAQ:ALKS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 15th. The company reported $0.22 earnings per share 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $362.78 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted ($0.02) earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 23.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts predict that Alkermes plc will post 2.24 earnings per share for the current year.

Alkermes declared that its board has initiated a share buyback plan on Thursday, February 15th that authorizes the company to repurchase $400.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the company to repurchase up to 8.2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Alkermes Company 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.