Affinity Asset Advisors LLC Grows Stock Holdings in Alkermes plc (NASDAQ:ALKS)

Affinity Asset Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Alkermes plc (NASDAQ:ALKS - Free Report) by 766.7% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 650,000 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 575,000 shares during the period. Alkermes comprises approximately 1.8% of Affinity Asset Advisors LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 13th largest position. Affinity Asset Advisors LLC owned 0.38% of Alkermes worth $15,665,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Alkermes by 12.3% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 20,955,454 shares of the company's stock valued at $581,304,000 after buying an additional 2,288,185 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in Alkermes by 29.8% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 15,241,470 shares of the company's stock worth $422,798,000 after purchasing an additional 3,494,678 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its stake in Alkermes by 421.8% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 8,326,256 shares of the company's stock worth $225,393,000 after purchasing an additional 6,730,671 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of Alkermes by 31.8% during the second quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 5,640,642 shares of the company's stock worth $135,939,000 after purchasing an additional 1,362,079 shares in the last quarter. Finally, RTW Investments LP boosted its stake in shares of Alkermes by 338.8% in the fourth quarter. RTW Investments LP now owns 3,901,523 shares of the company's stock valued at $108,228,000 after purchasing an additional 3,012,450 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.21% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have issued reports on ALKS. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Alkermes from $31.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on Alkermes from $37.00 to $38.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an "overweight" rating and set a $48.00 price target on shares of Alkermes in a report on Monday, September 16th. HC Wainwright increased their price target on Alkermes from $35.00 to $37.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Finally, StockNews.com raised Alkermes from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Sunday, July 28th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $36.70.

Alkermes Stock Down 3.4 %

NASDAQ:ALKS traded down $0.94 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $26.43. 2,082,757 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,847,695. Alkermes plc has a fifty-two week low of $22.01 and a fifty-two week high of $32.88. The company has a market capitalization of $4.47 billion, a PE ratio of 10.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.59 and a beta of 0.46. The company has a current ratio of 2.99, a quick ratio of 2.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $27.28 and a 200 day simple moving average of $25.78.

Alkermes (NASDAQ:ALKS - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The company reported $0.70 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts' consensus estimates of $0.70. The business had revenue of $399.13 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $393.30 million. Alkermes had a return on equity of 23.20% and a net margin of 19.15%. The business's revenue was down 35.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.38 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Alkermes plc will post 2.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.