Proficio Capital Partners LLC Takes Position in Alkermes plc (NASDAQ:ALKS)

Proficio Capital Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Alkermes plc (NASDAQ:ALKS) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 32,700 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $940,000.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P increased its position in Alkermes by 365.5% in the third quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P now owns 1,882,936 shares of the company’s stock worth $52,704,000 after buying an additional 1,478,422 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in Alkermes by 2.5% in the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 899,764 shares of the company’s stock worth $25,877,000 after acquiring an additional 21,821 shares during the last quarter. Frazier Life Sciences Management L.P. bought a new position in Alkermes in the 3rd quarter worth about $16,126,000. Rhumbline Advisers increased its stake in Alkermes by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 464,714 shares of the company’s stock worth $13,365,000 after acquiring an additional 1,683 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC increased its stake in Alkermes by 108.8% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 423,931 shares of the company’s stock worth $11,867,000 after acquiring an additional 220,893 shares during the last quarter. 95.21% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Alkermes 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 in the company, valued at approximately $2,056,298.75. This trade 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. Company insiders own 4.89% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently commented on ALKS shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft started coverage on Alkermes in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. They set a “buy” rating and a $40.00 price objective on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada started coverage on Alkermes in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. They set a “sector perform” rating and a $40.00 price objective on the stock. StockNews.com upgraded Alkermes from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on Alkermes from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, UBS Group upgraded Alkermes from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their target price for the company from $21.00 to $38.00 in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. 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. According to data from MarketBeat, Alkermes presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $38.46.

Alkermes Stock Performance

NASDAQ ALKS opened at $34.60 on Friday. Alkermes plc has a fifty-two week low of $22.90 and a fifty-two week high of $36.45. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $32.97 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $30.04. The stock has a market cap of $5.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.62.

Alkermes (NASDAQ:ALKS) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 return on equity of 30.80% and a net margin of 23.57%. Sell-side analysts predict that Alkermes plc will post 1.31 earnings per share for the current year.

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.