HighTower Advisors LLC Grows Stock Holdings in Alkermes plc (NASDAQ:ALKS)

HighTower Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Alkermes plc (NASDAQ:ALKS) by 34.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 16,543 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 4,269 shares during the quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC’s holdings in Alkermes were worth $476,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Venturi Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Alkermes during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its position in Alkermes by 2,231.5% during the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,702 shares of the company’s stock valued at $49,000 after acquiring an additional 1,629 shares in the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Alkermes by 558.5% in the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 2,950 shares of the company’s stock valued at $85,000 after acquiring an additional 2,502 shares during the period. Cornerstone Investment Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Alkermes in the 4th quarter worth $203,000. Finally, KBC Group NV lifted its stake in shares of Alkermes by 46.7% during the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 7,176 shares of the company’s stock worth $206,000 after purchasing an additional 2,286 shares during the last quarter. 95.21% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Alkermes

In other news, EVP Craig C. Hopkinson sold 144,419 shares of the company’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 sale, the executive vice president now owns 57,875 shares in the company, valued at $2,056,298.75. This represents a 71.39 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Company insiders own 4.89% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ALKS has been the topic of several analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on Alkermes from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. UBS Group raised shares of Alkermes from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $21.00 to $38.00 in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. StockNews.com raised shares of Alkermes from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Royal Bank of Canada began coverage on shares of Alkermes in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. They issued a “sector perform” rating and a $40.00 target price for the company. Finally, HC Wainwright reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $46.00 price target on shares of Alkermes in a research 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $39.38.

Alkermes Stock Performance

Shares of ALKS stock opened at $33.21 on Monday. Alkermes plc has a fifty-two week low of $22.90 and a fifty-two week high of $36.45. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.40 billion, a PE ratio of 15.30, a P/E/G ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.62. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $33.45 and its 200-day simple moving average is $30.31.

Alkermes (NASDAQ:ALKS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The company reported $0.92 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.81 by $0.11. Alkermes had a net margin of 23.57% and a return on equity of 30.80%. Sell-side analysts forecast that Alkermes plc will post 1.31 earnings per share for the current year.

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.