Alkermes plc (NASDAQ:ALKS) Short Interest Update

Alkermes plc (NASDAQ:ALKS) was the target of a large drop in short interest during the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 11,000,000 shares, a drop of 15.1% from the March 15th total of 12,950,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,750,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 6.3 days. Currently, 7.1% of the shares of the company are sold short.

Alkermes Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of NASDAQ ALKS opened at $27.05 on Monday. Alkermes has a 12-month low of $22.90 and a 12-month high of $36.45. The stock has a market cap of $4.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.47, a PEG ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.39. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $32.73 and its 200-day simple moving average is $30.44.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Alkermes

In related news, EVP Craig C. Hopkinson sold 144,419 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.53, for a total transaction 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 approximately $2,056,298.75. This represents a 71.39 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Company insiders own 4.89% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Alkermes

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Venturi Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Alkermes in the fourth quarter valued at $25,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in Alkermes by 106.2% during the 4th quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,635 shares of the company’s stock worth $47,000 after buying an additional 842 shares during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. increased its position in Alkermes by 2,231.5% during the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,702 shares of the company’s stock worth $49,000 after buying an additional 1,629 shares during the period. USA Financial Formulas purchased a new stake in Alkermes in the first quarter valued at approximately $49,000. Finally, Fifth Third Bancorp boosted its holdings in shares of Alkermes by 54.4% in the first quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 1,479 shares of the company’s stock valued at $49,000 after acquiring an additional 521 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 95.21% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ALKS has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on Alkermes from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. StockNews.com raised shares of Alkermes from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. UBS Group upgraded Alkermes from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their target price for the company from $21.00 to $38.00 in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. HC Wainwright restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $46.00 price objective on shares of Alkermes in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their target price on shares of Alkermes from $40.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, March 27th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $38.50.

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.