Alkermes (NASDAQ:ALKS) Stock Rating Reaffirmed by HC Wainwright

Alkermes (NASDAQ:ALKS)‘s stock had its “neutral” rating reiterated by analysts at HC Wainwright in a research note issued on Thursday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $35.00 price objective on the stock. HC Wainwright’s price objective indicates a potential upside of 45.53% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other equities research analysts have also commented on ALKS. Robert W. Baird initiated coverage on Alkermes in a research report on Tuesday, March 19th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $37.00 price objective for the company. StockNews.com lowered Alkermes from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 23rd. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on Alkermes from $42.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. UBS Group lowered Alkermes from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $25.00 price target for the company. in a report on Tuesday, February 20th. Finally, TheStreet upgraded Alkermes from a “c+” rating to a “b” rating in a report on Thursday, February 15th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $35.38.

Alkermes Trading Up 0.8 %

NASDAQ:ALKS opened at $24.05 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.50, a current ratio of 3.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23. Alkermes has a 1-year low of $22.01 and a 1-year high of $33.71. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.66 and a beta of 0.61. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $26.73 and a 200 day simple moving average of $26.74.

Alkermes (NASDAQ:ALKS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 1st. The company reported $0.43 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.58 by ($0.15). Alkermes had a return on equity of 20.31% and a net margin of 25.17%. The business had revenue of $350.37 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $360.26 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted ($0.10) earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 21.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that Alkermes will post 2.22 earnings per share for the current year.

Alkermes declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback plan on Thursday, February 15th that authorizes the company to repurchase $400.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the company to purchase up to 8.2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity at Alkermes

In related news, SVP Christian Todd Nichols sold 10,417 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 65,911 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,852,099.10. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 4.76% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Alkermes by 6.1% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 7,830 shares of the company’s stock valued at $219,000 after acquiring an additional 452 shares in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its position in Alkermes by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 76,043 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,130,000 after buying an additional 481 shares during the period. Alps Advisors Inc. increased its position in Alkermes by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. now owns 122,916 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,443,000 after buying an additional 529 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its position in Alkermes by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 59,942 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,663,000 after buying an additional 572 shares during the period. Finally, New York State Common Retirement Fund increased its position in Alkermes by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 143,223 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,012,000 after buying an additional 605 shares during the period. 95.21% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.