Primecap Management Co. CA Reduces Stock Holdings in Alkermes plc (NASDAQ:ALKS)

Primecap Management Co. CA reduced its stake in Alkermes plc (NASDAQ:ALKS) by 6.1% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 3,095,510 shares of the company’s stock after selling 201,605 shares during the period. Primecap Management Co. CA’s holdings in Alkermes were worth $89,027,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. CIBC Asset Management Inc increased its stake in Alkermes by 4.4% in the fourth quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 9,155 shares of the company’s stock valued at $263,000 after purchasing an additional 384 shares during the last quarter. KBC Group NV increased its stake in Alkermes by 18.8% in the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 4,890 shares of the company’s stock valued at $137,000 after purchasing an additional 774 shares during the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in Alkermes by 106.2% in the fourth quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,635 shares of the company’s stock valued at $47,000 after purchasing an additional 842 shares during the last quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Alkermes in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Finally, Exchange Traded Concepts LLC increased its stake in Alkermes by 3.0% in the fourth quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 30,950 shares of the company’s stock valued at $890,000 after purchasing an additional 897 shares during the last quarter. 95.21% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alkermes

In other Alkermes news, EVP Craig C. Hopkinson sold 144,419 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 owns 57,875 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,056,298.75. This trade represents a 71.39 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 4.89% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Alkermes Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ ALKS opened at $34.37 on Wednesday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $32.62 and a 200 day moving average price of $29.94. Alkermes plc has a 1-year low of $22.90 and a 1-year high of $36.45. The company has a market cap of $5.59 billion, a PE ratio of 15.84, a P/E/G ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.62.

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have commented on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada began coverage on shares of Alkermes in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. They issued a “sector perform” rating and a $40.00 price target on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft began coverage on Alkermes in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $40.00 price objective for the company. StockNews.com raised Alkermes from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on Alkermes from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, UBS Group raised Alkermes from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $21.00 to $38.00 in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Alkermes presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price 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.