Retirement Systems of Alabama Trims Stock Position in Jazz Pharmaceuticals PLC $JAZZ

Retirement Systems of Alabama cut its stake in Jazz Pharmaceuticals PLC (NASDAQ:JAZZ) by 11.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 167,698 shares of the specialty pharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 20,703 shares during the quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama’s holdings in Jazz Pharmaceuticals were worth $28,509,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of JAZZ. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of Jazz Pharmaceuticals by 11.8% during the 3rd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,836,652 shares of the specialty pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $373,855,000 after purchasing an additional 298,815 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors raised its stake in Jazz Pharmaceuticals by 0.4% in the third quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 2,554,867 shares of the specialty pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $336,731,000 after buying an additional 10,345 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its stake in Jazz Pharmaceuticals by 11.4% in the second quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 1,867,399 shares of the specialty pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $198,159,000 after buying an additional 191,637 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings in Jazz Pharmaceuticals by 8.5% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,867,159 shares of the specialty pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $246,092,000 after buying an additional 145,865 shares during the period. Finally, Vestal Point Capital LP purchased a new stake in Jazz Pharmaceuticals in the second quarter worth about $127,344,000. 89.14% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have weighed in on JAZZ. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Jazz Pharmaceuticals from $225.00 to $226.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 25th. Truist Financial upgraded Jazz Pharmaceuticals to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 25th. Piper Sandler upped their price target on Jazz Pharmaceuticals from $219.00 to $232.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 19th. Bank of America increased their price objective on Jazz Pharmaceuticals from $263.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 25th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Jazz Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Friday. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Jazz Pharmaceuticals has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $215.38.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Jazz Pharmaceuticals news, EVP Neena M. Patil sold 55,600 shares of Jazz Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $191.56, for a total transaction of $10,650,736.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 56,862 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,892,484.72. The trade was a 49.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Patricia Carr sold 1,287 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $182.94, for a total value of $235,443.78. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 6,512 shares in the company, valued at $1,191,305.28. This trade represents a 16.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 68,015 shares of company stock worth $13,037,486 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 4.30% of the company’s stock.

Jazz Pharmaceuticals Price Performance

Shares of JAZZ opened at $189.05 on Wednesday. Jazz Pharmaceuticals PLC has a fifty-two week low of $95.49 and a fifty-two week high of $198.00. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $176.33 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $161.11. The stock has a market cap of $11.64 billion, a PE ratio of -31.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.33 and a beta of 0.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00, a quick ratio of 1.67 and a current ratio of 1.86.

Jazz Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:JAZZ) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 25th. The specialty pharmaceutical company reported $6.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $6.49 by $0.15. Jazz Pharmaceuticals had a negative net margin of 8.35% and a positive return on equity of 6.87%. The firm had revenue of $1.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.17 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $6.51 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 8.1% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate that Jazz Pharmaceuticals PLC will post 16.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

About Jazz Pharmaceuticals

Jazz Pharmaceuticals plc is a global biopharmaceutical company focused on developing and commercializing therapies in neuroscience and oncology. The company’s research and development efforts target unmet medical needs in sleep disorders, hematologic malignancies, rare neurological conditions and solid tumors. Jazz’s product portfolio includes therapies for narcolepsy, hepatic veno-occlusive disease, acute myeloid leukemia and other serious disorders.

Flagship products from Jazz Pharmaceuticals include Xyrem® (sodium oxybate) and Xywav® (calcium, magnesium, potassium, and sodium oxybates) for the treatment of cataplexy and excessive daytime sleepiness in patients with narcolepsy.