Artisan Partners Limited Partnership Purchases 50,470 Shares of Alkermes plc (NASDAQ:ALKS)

Artisan Partners Limited Partnership increased its position in Alkermes plc (NASDAQ:ALKS) by 2.6% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 1,988,796 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 50,470 shares during the quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership’s holdings in Alkermes were worth $57,198,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of ALKS. Advisors Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in Alkermes by 21.1% during the third quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 10,158 shares of the company’s stock worth $284,000 after acquiring an additional 1,771 shares in the last quarter. Citigroup Inc. raised its stake in shares of Alkermes by 41.1% during the third quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 224,858 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,294,000 after buying an additional 65,536 shares during the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Alkermes during the 3rd quarter valued at $439,000. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. increased its holdings in Alkermes by 56.9% in the third quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 13,241 shares of the company’s stock valued at $371,000 after purchasing an additional 4,800 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its position in shares of Alkermes by 7.5% in the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 260,785 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,299,000 after acquiring an additional 18,147 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 95.21% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently commented on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on shares of Alkermes from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. UBS Group raised Alkermes from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $21.00 to $38.00 in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price objective on Alkermes from $40.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Alkermes from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, HC Wainwright reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $46.00 price target on shares of Alkermes in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $39.38.

Alkermes Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of ALKS stock opened at $33.53 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $33.38 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $30.22. Alkermes plc has a 1 year low of $22.90 and a 1 year high of $36.45. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.45, a PEG ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.62.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Craig C. Hopkinson sold 144,419 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 owns 57,875 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,056,298.75. This represents a 71.39 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 4.89% of the company’s stock.

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.