O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC Grows Holdings in Alkermes plc (NASDAQ:ALKS)

O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC grew its position in Alkermes plc (NASDAQ:ALKS) by 3.9% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 14,203 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 532 shares during the quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Alkermes were worth $408,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of ALKS. Venturi Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Alkermes in the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Alkermes by 106.2% in the fourth quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,635 shares of the company’s stock valued at $47,000 after purchasing an additional 842 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. grew its holdings in Alkermes by 2,231.5% in the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,702 shares of the company’s stock valued at $49,000 after purchasing an additional 1,629 shares during the period. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of Alkermes by 558.5% in the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 2,950 shares of the company’s stock valued at $85,000 after buying an additional 2,502 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cornerstone Investment Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Alkermes during the 4th quarter worth approximately $203,000. 95.21% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Alkermes

In other Alkermes news, EVP Craig C. Hopkinson sold 100,918 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.05, for a total transaction of $3,234,421.90. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 44,290 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,419,494.50. This trade represents a 69.50 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 4.89% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Alkermes Price Performance

ALKS stock opened at $26.59 on Friday. Alkermes plc has a 1 year low of $22.90 and a 1 year high of $36.45. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.38 billion, a PE ratio of 12.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.39. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $33.23 and a 200-day simple moving average of $30.45.

Alkermes (NASDAQ:ALKS) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The company reported $0.92 earnings per share (EPS) 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%. On average, equities research analysts expect that Alkermes plc will post 1.31 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently issued reports on ALKS. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price target on shares of Alkermes from $40.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 27th. UBS Group upgraded shares of Alkermes from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $21.00 to $38.00 in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on shares of 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. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada assumed coverage on Alkermes in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. They set a “sector perform” rating and a $40.00 price objective for the company. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Alkermes has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $38.50.

Alkermes 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.