Wellington Management Group LLP Sells 5,645,762 Shares of Alkermes plc (NASDAQ:ALKS)

Wellington Management Group LLP reduced its stake in Alkermes plc (NASDAQ:ALKS) by 44.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 7,012,483 shares of the company’s stock after selling 5,645,762 shares during the quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP owned 4.31% of Alkermes worth $201,679,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ALKS. Venturi Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Alkermes in the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Alkermes by 106.2% in the 4th quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,635 shares of the company’s stock valued at $47,000 after acquiring an additional 842 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its position in Alkermes by 2,231.5% during the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,702 shares of the company’s stock worth $49,000 after acquiring an additional 1,629 shares during the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Alkermes by 558.5% in the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 2,950 shares of the company’s stock valued at $85,000 after purchasing an additional 2,502 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cornerstone Investment Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Alkermes in the fourth quarter worth $203,000. 95.21% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Alkermes

In related news, EVP Craig C. Hopkinson sold 144,419 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.53, for a total transaction of $5,131,207.07. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly 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 is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 4.89% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have issued reports on ALKS. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price target on shares of Alkermes from $40.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 27th. StockNews.com raised Alkermes from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. UBS Group upgraded Alkermes from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price target for the company from $21.00 to $38.00 in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on Alkermes from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Finally, HC Wainwright reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $46.00 target price on shares of Alkermes in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Alkermes has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $39.38.

Alkermes Stock Performance

Shares of ALKS opened at $32.65 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $5.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.62. Alkermes plc has a 52 week low of $22.90 and a 52 week high of $36.45. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $33.62 and its 200 day simple moving average is $30.41.

Alkermes (NASDAQ:ALKS) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The company reported $0.92 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.81 by $0.11. Alkermes had a return on equity of 30.80% and a net margin of 23.57%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Alkermes plc will post 1.31 earnings per share for the current 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.