Alkermes (NASDAQ:ALKS) Coverage Initiated by Analysts at Royal Bank of Canada

Royal Bank of Canada began coverage on shares of Alkermes (NASDAQ:ALKS) in a research report report published on Thursday morning, Marketbeat Ratings reports. The brokerage issued a sector perform rating and a $40.00 price objective on the stock.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently commented on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on Alkermes from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. HC Wainwright reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $46.00 price objective on shares of Alkermes in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. UBS Group upgraded Alkermes from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $21.00 to $38.00 in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft started coverage on Alkermes in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $40.00 price objective for the company. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Alkermes from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $38.46.

Alkermes Stock Performance

NASDAQ:ALKS opened at $34.03 on Thursday. Alkermes has a one year low of $22.90 and a one year high of $36.45. The stock has a market cap of $5.53 billion, a PE ratio of 15.68, a P/E/G ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.61. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $32.38 and a 200 day moving average price of $29.84.

Alkermes (NASDAQ:ALKS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The company reported $0.92 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%. As a group, analysts predict that Alkermes will post 1.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Craig C. Hopkinson sold 144,419 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.53, for a total value of $5,131,207.07. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 57,875 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,056,298.75. The trade was a 71.39 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Company insiders own 4.89% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Alkermes

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in ALKS. US Bancorp DE raised its stake in Alkermes by 48.8% during the 3rd quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 10,302 shares of the company’s stock valued at $288,000 after acquiring an additional 3,378 shares during the last quarter. Aigen Investment Management LP purchased a new stake in Alkermes during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $216,000. Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in Alkermes by 18.4% during the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 136,282 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,815,000 after acquiring an additional 21,221 shares during the last quarter. KBC Group NV raised its stake in Alkermes by 18.8% during the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 4,890 shares of the company’s stock valued at $137,000 after acquiring an additional 774 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Royce & Associates LP raised its stake in Alkermes by 49.4% during the 3rd quarter. Royce & Associates LP now owns 67,628 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,893,000 after acquiring an additional 22,356 shares during the last quarter. 95.21% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.