Prudential Financial Inc. Decreases Stock Holdings in Alkermes plc (NASDAQ:ALKS)

Prudential Financial Inc. lowered its position in Alkermes plc (NASDAQ:ALKS) by 25.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 197,631 shares of the company’s stock after selling 68,359 shares during the period. Prudential Financial Inc. owned approximately 0.12% of Alkermes worth $5,684,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of ALKS. Venturi Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Alkermes during the fourth quarter worth $25,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in Alkermes by 106.2% during the 4th quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,635 shares of the company’s stock worth $47,000 after buying an additional 842 shares during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. increased 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 buying an additional 1,629 shares in the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC increased its position in Alkermes by 558.5% during the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 2,950 shares of the company’s stock valued at $85,000 after buying an additional 2,502 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cornerstone Investment Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Alkermes in the fourth quarter valued at about $203,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.21% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ALKS has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. HC Wainwright restated a “neutral” rating and set a $46.00 price objective on shares of Alkermes in a report on Thursday, February 13th. UBS Group raised shares of 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 report on Tuesday, March 4th. StockNews.com raised shares of Alkermes from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their target price on Alkermes from $40.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada started coverage on Alkermes in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. They set a “sector perform” rating and a $40.00 price target on the stock. Four research 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $39.38.

Alkermes Price Performance

ALKS opened at $33.21 on Monday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $33.45 and a 200 day moving average price of $30.31. Alkermes plc has a 1 year low of $22.90 and a 1 year high of $36.45. The stock has a market cap of $5.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.30, a P/E/G ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.62.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Craig C. Hopkinson sold 144,419 shares of the business’s 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 directly owns 57,875 shares in the company, valued at $2,056,298.75. The trade was a 71.39 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 4.89% of the stock is currently owned by 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.