21,783 Shares in Alkermes plc (NASDAQ:ALKS) Purchased by Virtu Financial LLC

Virtu Financial LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Alkermes plc (NASDAQ:ALKS) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 21,783 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $626,000.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in ALKS. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P lifted its position in Alkermes by 365.5% in the 3rd 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 in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Alkermes by 2.5% in the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 899,764 shares of the company’s stock worth $25,877,000 after purchasing an additional 21,821 shares in the last quarter. Frazier Life Sciences Management L.P. acquired a new position in Alkermes during the third quarter worth $16,126,000. Rhumbline Advisers lifted its position in shares of Alkermes by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 464,714 shares of the company’s stock worth $13,365,000 after buying an additional 1,683 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Alkermes during the 4th quarter worth about $12,293,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.21% of the company’s stock.

Alkermes Price Performance

ALKS opened at $33.88 on Wednesday. Alkermes plc has a fifty-two week low of $22.90 and a fifty-two week high of $36.45. The company has a market capitalization of $5.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.61, a P/E/G ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.62. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $33.21 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $30.17.

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

Insider Transactions at Alkermes

In other Alkermes news, EVP Craig C. Hopkinson sold 100,918 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.05, for a total value of $3,234,421.90. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 44,290 shares in the company, valued at $1,419,494.50. This represents a 69.50 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 4.89% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently weighed in on ALKS. UBS Group upgraded Alkermes from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $21.00 to $38.00 in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Alkermes from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on shares of Alkermes from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Royal Bank of Canada initiated coverage on Alkermes in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. They issued a “sector perform” rating and a $40.00 price target on the stock. Finally, HC Wainwright reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $46.00 price objective on shares of Alkermes in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $38.46.

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.