Alkermes (NASDAQ:ALKS) Shares Gap Up – Should You Buy?

Shares of Alkermes plc (NASDAQ:ALKS) gapped up before the market opened on Tuesday . The stock had previously closed at $29.42, but opened at $30.24. Alkermes shares last traded at $30.20, with a volume of 164,822 shares.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently commented on ALKS. Needham & Company LLC initiated coverage on shares of Alkermes in a report on Wednesday, May 28th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $45.00 target price on the stock. HC Wainwright reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Alkermes in a report on Friday, May 2nd. UBS Group upgraded Alkermes from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $33.00 to $42.00 in a research report on Tuesday. Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded shares of Alkermes to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 13th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on shares of Alkermes from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Alkermes currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $39.54.

Alkermes Price Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $4.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.47. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $29.68 and a 200-day simple moving average of $31.05.

Alkermes (NASDAQ:ALKS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The company reported $0.13 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.32 by ($0.19). Alkermes had a net margin of 23.57% and a return on equity of 30.80%. The business had revenue of $306.51 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $307.53 million. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.43 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down 12.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Alkermes plc will post 1.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alkermes

In related news, SVP Christian Todd Nichols sold 3,334 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $31.09, for a total transaction of $103,654.06. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 86,208 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,680,206.72. The trade was a 3.72% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Company insiders own 4.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Alkermes

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in ALKS. Natixis Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Alkermes by 36.8% in the 4th quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 49,922 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,436,000 after acquiring an additional 13,432 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in shares of Alkermes by 147.4% during the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 889,472 shares of the company’s stock worth $25,581,000 after acquiring an additional 529,962 shares during the period. Savant Capital LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Alkermes by 11.6% in the 4th quarter. Savant Capital LLC now owns 11,075 shares of the company’s stock valued at $319,000 after buying an additional 1,152 shares in the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in Alkermes by 558.5% in the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 2,950 shares of the company’s stock worth $85,000 after acquiring an additional 2,502 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ieq Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Alkermes in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,057,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.21% 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.