Alkermes (NASDAQ:ALKS) Shares Gap Up After Analyst Upgrade

Shares of Alkermes plc (NASDAQ:ALKS) gapped up before the market opened on Friday after Royal Bank Of Canada upgraded the stock from a sector perform rating to an outperform rating. The stock had previously closed at $27.13, but opened at $28.20. Royal Bank Of Canada now has a $44.00 price target on the stock, up from their previous price target of $42.00. Alkermes shares last traded at $28.22, with a volume of 286,179 shares changing hands.

Several other equities analysts have also issued reports on the stock. Needham & Company LLC set a $43.00 target price on shares of Alkermes in a report on Tuesday, September 9th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Alkermes to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on shares of Alkermes in a report on Tuesday, July 15th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $43.00 price objective for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Alkermes from $34.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 9th. Finally, UBS Group upgraded shares of Alkermes from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $33.00 to $42.00 in a report on Tuesday, June 17th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Alkermes presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $42.00.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Alkermes

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. State Street Corp grew its position in Alkermes by 2.3% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 8,208,256 shares of the company’s stock worth $234,838,000 after purchasing an additional 185,586 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its position in Alkermes by 488.6% in the 1st quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 5,234,995 shares of the company’s stock worth $172,860,000 after purchasing an additional 4,345,523 shares during the period. Baker BROS. Advisors LP grew its position in Alkermes by 7.2% in the 1st quarter. Baker BROS. Advisors LP now owns 4,483,285 shares of the company’s stock worth $148,038,000 after purchasing an additional 301,534 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Alkermes by 2.1% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,023,552 shares of the company’s stock valued at $115,128,000 after acquiring an additional 83,858 shares during the period. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. grew its position in shares of Alkermes by 5.5% during the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 3,657,223 shares of the company’s stock valued at $104,633,000 after acquiring an additional 191,549 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 95.21% of the company’s stock.

Alkermes Stock Performance

The business’s 50-day moving average price is $27.84 and its 200-day moving average price is $29.42. The stock has a market cap of $4.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.41, a P/E/G ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 0.53.

Alkermes (NASDAQ:ALKS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 29th. The company reported $0.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.42 by $0.10. Alkermes had a net margin of 23.15% and a return on equity of 24.86%. The firm had revenue of $390.66 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $343.20 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.16 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Alkermes has set its FY 2025 guidance at 1.030-1.210 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Alkermes plc will post 1.31 earnings per share for the current year.

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.