Needham & Company LLC Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Alkermes (NASDAQ:ALKS) Stock

Alkermes (NASDAQ:ALKS) had its price target upped by analysts at Needham & Company LLC from $61.00 to $62.00 in a report issued on Monday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a “buy” rating on the stock. Needham & Company LLC’s price objective points to a potential upside of 20.83% from the company’s current price.

Several other research analysts have also recently weighed in on the company. Truist Financial upgraded Alkermes to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 25th. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Alkermes from $42.00 to $48.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. assumed coverage on shares of Alkermes in a research report on Monday. They set a “neutral” rating and a $60.00 price target on the stock. Zacks Research raised shares of Alkermes from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, April 27th. Finally, Mizuho increased their target price on shares of Alkermes from $53.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have issued a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $51.25.

Alkermes Stock Performance

ALKS stock traded down $0.63 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $51.31. 362,536 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,291,038. Alkermes has a 1-year low of $25.17 and a 1-year high of $55.67. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.55 billion, a PE ratio of 56.82 and a beta of 0.34. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $43.75 and a 200-day simple moving average of $35.81. The company has a current ratio of 2.27, a quick ratio of 1.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.85.

Alkermes (NASDAQ:ALKS) last announced its earnings results on Saturday, February 14th. The company reported $0.29 earnings per share for the quarter. The company had revenue of $384.55 million for the quarter. Alkermes had a return on equity of 9.26% and a net margin of 9.78%. On average, equities analysts forecast that Alkermes will post -0.42 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Christopher I. Wright sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, June 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.10, for a total value of $90,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 25,680 shares in the company, valued at $1,158,168. This represents a 7.23% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, EVP David Joseph Gaffin sold 2,034 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $54.03, for a total transaction of $109,897.02. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 227,490 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,291,284.70. This represents a 0.89% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 35,102 shares of company stock worth $1,494,410. 4.59% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in ALKS. Tudor Investment Corp ET AL purchased a new position in shares of Alkermes during the third quarter worth about $1,691,000. Profund Advisors LLC boosted its position in Alkermes by 80.9% during the fourth quarter. Profund Advisors LLC now owns 80,624 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,256,000 after buying an additional 36,067 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its position in Alkermes by 21.0% during the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 390,493 shares of the company’s stock worth $10,926,000 after acquiring an additional 67,745 shares during the last quarter. Abacus FCF Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Alkermes in the 4th quarter worth $6,141,000. Finally, UBS Group AG raised its position in shares of Alkermes by 237.4% in the 4th quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 2,544,895 shares of the company’s stock worth $71,206,000 after acquiring an additional 1,790,729 shares in the last quarter. 95.21% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Alkermes Company Profile

Alkermes plc is a biopharmaceutical company focused on developing innovative medicines to address unmet needs in the central nervous system (CNS). The company applies its proprietary drug delivery technologies and therapeutic expertise to advance treatments for addiction, schizophrenia, bipolar I disorder and depression. Alkermes’ portfolio includes both commercial products and a pipeline of investigational therapies designed to improve patient outcomes and support long-term disease management.

Alkermes’ commercial franchise features several approved products.