Panagora Asset Management Inc. Lowers Holdings in Alkermes plc (NASDAQ:ALKS)

Panagora Asset Management Inc. lowered its position in Alkermes plc (NASDAQ:ALKS) by 0.7% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 782,657 shares of the company’s stock after selling 5,406 shares during the quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Alkermes were worth $21,711,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. McGlone Suttner Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Alkermes in the 4th quarter worth $30,000. GAMMA Investing LLC bought a new stake in shares of Alkermes in the fourth quarter valued at about $35,000. C M Bidwell & Associates Ltd. purchased a new stake in Alkermes in the third quarter worth about $37,000. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. grew its holdings in Alkermes by 166.4% during the 4th quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 1,761 shares of the company’s stock worth $49,000 after acquiring an additional 1,100 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Headlands Technologies LLC purchased a new position in Alkermes during the 3rd quarter valued at about $53,000. 95.21% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $39.00 price target on shares of Alkermes in a research report on Monday, April 1st. TheStreet upgraded Alkermes from a “c+” rating to a “b” rating in a report on Thursday, February 15th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on Alkermes from $42.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. HC Wainwright restated a “neutral” rating and set a $35.00 price objective on shares of Alkermes in a research note on Thursday, May 2nd. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Alkermes from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Alkermes currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $35.38.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Christian Todd Nichols sold 10,417 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $28.10, for a total transaction of $292,717.70. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 65,911 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,852,099.10. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Corporate insiders own 4.89% of the company’s stock.

Alkermes Trading Down 1.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ:ALKS opened at $24.15 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $25.65 and its 200 day moving average is $26.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a current ratio of 3.20 and a quick ratio of 2.77. Alkermes plc has a 1 year low of $22.01 and a 1 year high of $33.71. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.55, a P/E/G ratio of 0.68 and a beta of 0.61.

Alkermes (NASDAQ:ALKS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 1st. The company reported $0.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.58 by ($0.15). The company had revenue of $350.37 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $360.26 million. Alkermes had a net margin of 25.17% and a return on equity of 20.31%. The business’s revenue was up 21.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned ($0.10) EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Alkermes plc will post 2.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alkermes announced that its board has approved a stock repurchase plan on Thursday, February 15th that allows the company to repurchase $400.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to purchase up to 8.2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

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.