New York State Common Retirement Fund Buys 11,747 Shares of Alkermes plc (NASDAQ:ALKS)

New York State Common Retirement Fund lifted its position in Alkermes plc (NASDAQ:ALKS) by 8.2% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 154,970 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 11,747 shares during the period. New York State Common Retirement Fund’s holdings in Alkermes were worth $4,299,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its holdings in Alkermes by 52.7% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 11,746,792 shares of the company’s stock worth $329,028,000 after purchasing an additional 4,055,926 shares during the period. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. acquired a new stake in Alkermes during the 3rd quarter worth $36,171,000. RTW Investments LP bought a new position in Alkermes during the third quarter worth about $24,903,000. Federated Hermes Inc. grew its stake in Alkermes by 251.8% in the third quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 511,296 shares of the company’s stock valued at $14,321,000 after acquiring an additional 365,964 shares during the period. Finally, Acadian Asset Management LLC grew its stake in Alkermes by 1,652.4% in the third quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 360,893 shares of the company’s stock valued at $10,101,000 after acquiring an additional 340,299 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 95.21% of the company’s stock.

Alkermes Trading Up 0.8 %

Alkermes stock opened at $24.05 on Monday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $26.73 and a 200-day moving average of $26.73. Alkermes plc has a one year low of $22.01 and a one year high of $33.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a current ratio of 3.20 and a quick ratio of 2.50. The company has a market cap of $4.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.51, a P/E/G ratio of 0.69 and a beta of 0.61.

Alkermes (NASDAQ:ALKS) last posted 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 prior year, the company earned ($0.10) earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 21.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts expect that Alkermes plc will post 2.39 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently issued reports on ALKS. Robert W. Baird started coverage on Alkermes in a research report on Tuesday, March 19th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $37.00 price objective for the company. Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $39.00 price target on shares of Alkermes in a report on Monday, April 1st. TheStreet raised shares of Alkermes from a “c+” rating to a “b” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 15th. UBS Group cut shares of Alkermes from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $25.00 price objective on the stock. in a research report on Tuesday, February 20th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on Alkermes from $42.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $35.38.

Insider Transactions at Alkermes

In other news, SVP Christian Todd Nichols sold 10,417 shares of the 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 completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 65,911 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,852,099.10. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Company insiders own 4.76% of the company’s stock.

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.