Royal Bank of Canada Begins Coverage on Alkermes (NASDAQ:ALKS)

Analysts at Royal Bank of Canada started coverage on shares of Alkermes (NASDAQ:ALKS) in a research report issued to clients and investors on Thursday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The firm set a “sector perform” rating and a $40.00 price target on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada’s price target indicates a potential upside of 17.54% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other equities research analysts have also commented on ALKS. Mizuho increased their price target on Alkermes from $35.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. StockNews.com raised Alkermes from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. UBS Group upgraded Alkermes from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $21.00 to $38.00 in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft started coverage on Alkermes in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $40.00 price objective for the company. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on Alkermes from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $38.46.

Alkermes Price Performance

Shares of ALKS stock opened at $34.03 on Thursday. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $32.38 and its 200 day simple moving average is $29.83. Alkermes has a one year low of $22.90 and a one year high of $36.45. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.53 billion, a PE ratio of 15.68, a PEG ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.61.

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

Insider Activity at Alkermes

In other Alkermes news, EVP Craig C. Hopkinson sold 144,419 shares of Alkermes stock in a transaction 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 in the company, valued at approximately $2,056,298.75. The trade was a 71.39 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 4.89% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Centiva Capital LP purchased a new position in shares of Alkermes in the third quarter worth $367,000. Natixis Advisors LLC increased its position in Alkermes by 190.3% during the third quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 36,490 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,021,000 after acquiring an additional 23,921 shares during the last quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC increased its position in Alkermes by 254.5% during the third quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 32,791 shares of the company’s stock valued at $944,000 after acquiring an additional 23,541 shares during the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets increased its position in Alkermes by 74.7% during the third quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 149,493 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,184,000 after acquiring an additional 63,939 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC increased its position in Alkermes by 108.8% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 423,931 shares of the company’s stock valued at $11,867,000 after acquiring an additional 220,893 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.21% of the company’s stock.

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.