Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund Lowers Stake in Alkermes plc (NASDAQ:ALKS)

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund lessened its stake in Alkermes plc (NASDAQ:ALKS) by 12.7% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 81,978 shares of the company’s stock after selling 11,878 shares during the quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund’s holdings in Alkermes were worth $2,358,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ALKS. Venturi Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Alkermes in the 4th quarter worth about $25,000. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of 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. Archer Investment Corp grew its stake in Alkermes by 28.6% in the third quarter. Archer Investment Corp now owns 4,500 shares of the company’s stock worth $126,000 after purchasing an additional 1,000 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV increased its holdings in Alkermes by 18.8% during the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 4,890 shares of the company’s stock worth $137,000 after purchasing an additional 774 shares during the period. Finally, Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. raised its position in Alkermes by 17.9% during the 3rd quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 5,956 shares of the company’s stock valued at $164,000 after purchasing an additional 904 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 95.21% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Mizuho increased their price target on Alkermes from $35.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. Stifel Nicolaus upgraded shares of Alkermes from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $25.00 to $36.00 in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft began coverage on shares of Alkermes in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $40.00 price target for the company. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on shares of Alkermes from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Finally, HC Wainwright reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $46.00 price objective on shares of Alkermes in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $38.36.

Alkermes Stock Down 2.2 %

Shares of ALKS opened at $34.04 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $31.25 and a two-hundred day moving average of $29.30. Alkermes plc has a twelve month low of $22.90 and a twelve month high of $36.45. The company has a market cap of $5.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.49.

Alkermes (NASDAQ:ALKS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The company reported $0.92 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.81 by $0.11. Alkermes had a return on equity of 30.80% and a net margin of 23.57%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Alkermes plc will post 1.31 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Cato T. Laurencin sold 2,691 shares of Alkermes stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $31.85, for a total value of $85,708.35. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 23,013 shares in the company, valued at $732,964.05. This trade represents a 10.47 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Craig C. Hopkinson sold 61,151 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.07, for a total transaction of $1,961,112.57. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 47,576 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,525,762.32. This represents a 56.24 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 318,400 shares of company stock valued at $10,702,911. 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.