New York State Common Retirement Fund Increases Holdings in Alkermes plc (NASDAQ:ALKS)

New York State Common Retirement Fund increased its stake in shares of Alkermes plc (NASDAQ:ALKS) by 3.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 142,480 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 4,799 shares during the quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund owned about 0.09% of Alkermes worth $4,098,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Venturi Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Alkermes during the fourth quarter worth $25,000. Blue Trust Inc. increased its stake in Alkermes by 2,231.5% during the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,702 shares of the company’s stock worth $49,000 after acquiring an additional 1,629 shares during the last quarter. Archer Investment Corp increased its stake in Alkermes by 28.6% during the third quarter. Archer Investment Corp now owns 4,500 shares of the company’s stock worth $126,000 after acquiring an additional 1,000 shares during the last quarter. KBC Group NV increased its stake in Alkermes by 18.8% during the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 4,890 shares of the company’s stock worth $137,000 after acquiring an additional 774 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. increased its stake in Alkermes by 17.9% during the third quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 5,956 shares of the company’s stock worth $164,000 after acquiring an additional 904 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.21% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ALKS has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on Alkermes from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. HC Wainwright reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $46.00 target price on shares of Alkermes in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Stifel Nicolaus raised Alkermes from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $25.00 to $36.00 in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. StockNews.com raised Alkermes from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Mizuho lifted their price objective on Alkermes from $35.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Alkermes presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $38.36.

Alkermes Price Performance

ALKS opened at $34.33 on Friday. Alkermes plc has a 12 month low of $22.90 and a 12 month high of $36.45. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.82, a PEG ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.49. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $31.34 and a 200 day moving average price of $29.36.

Alkermes (NASDAQ:ALKS) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The company reported $0.92 EPS for the quarter, topping 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, research analysts anticipate that Alkermes plc will post 1.31 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Alkermes news, Director Cato T. Laurencin sold 2,691 shares of Alkermes stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $31.85, for a total transaction of $85,708.35. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 23,013 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $732,964.05. The trade was a 10.47 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Craig C. Hopkinson sold 144,419 shares of Alkermes 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 directly owns 57,875 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,056,298.75. This trade represents a 71.39 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 318,400 shares of company stock valued at $10,702,911 in the last three months. 4.89% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.