Intech Investment Management LLC Buys 15,878 Shares of Alkermes plc (NASDAQ:ALKS)

Intech Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alkermes plc (NASDAQ:ALKS) by 30.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 68,151 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 15,878 shares during the quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Alkermes were worth $1,960,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its position in Alkermes by 18.4% during the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 136,282 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,815,000 after buying an additional 21,221 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV grew its position in Alkermes by 18.8% during the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 4,890 shares of the company’s stock worth $137,000 after buying an additional 774 shares in the last quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC grew its position in Alkermes by 190.3% during the third quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 36,490 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,021,000 after buying an additional 23,921 shares in the last quarter. Pathstone Holdings LLC grew its position in Alkermes by 72.8% during the third quarter. Pathstone Holdings LLC now owns 71,324 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,996,000 after buying an additional 30,048 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Advisors Asset Management Inc. grew its position in Alkermes by 21.1% during the third quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 10,158 shares of the company’s stock worth $284,000 after buying an additional 1,771 shares in the last quarter. 95.21% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ALKS has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. UBS Group upgraded Alkermes from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $21.00 to $38.00 in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. StockNews.com upgraded Alkermes from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Royal Bank of Canada initiated coverage on Alkermes in a report on Thursday, March 13th. They issued a “sector perform” rating and a $40.00 price objective for the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft initiated coverage on Alkermes in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $40.00 price objective for the company. Finally, HC Wainwright reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $46.00 price objective on shares of Alkermes in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Alkermes presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $38.46.

Alkermes Price Performance

Shares of ALKS stock opened at $33.92 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.52 billion, a PE ratio of 15.63, a P/E/G ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.62. Alkermes plc has a 1-year low of $22.90 and a 1-year high of $36.45. The business has a 50-day moving average of $32.84 and a 200 day moving average of $30.00.

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 return on equity of 30.80% and a net margin of 23.57%. Analysts anticipate that Alkermes plc will post 1.31 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alkermes

In other Alkermes news, EVP Craig C. Hopkinson sold 144,419 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.53, for a total transaction of $5,131,207.07. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 57,875 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,056,298.75. This represents a 71.39 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 4.89% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.