Stock from businesses that produce treatments and other health care-related items has drawn interest from institutional investors in recent months — including shares of biopharmaceutical company Alkermes.
The Massachusetts-based company, which distributes its products globally, has created items that address a variety of complex psychiatric and neurological conditions, ranging from schizophrenia to alcohol and opioid dependence. Its in-development treatments include ALKS 2680, a selective orexin 2 receptor agonist that is being studied as a potential medication that would be taken orally once a day for narcolepsy.
As of February 12, according to MarketBeat, 95.21% of Alkermes’ stock is held by institutional investors — such as global value-oriented and event-driven hedge fund Armistice Capital.
In the third quarter, Armistice Capital owned 1,448,654 shares of the company’s stock, according to the 13F form the fund filed in accordance with the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Sept. 30 reporting date.
Other institutional investors have also obtained Alkermes stock. Barclays PLC, for instance, added 220,893 shares during the same quarter, bringing its total up to 423,931 shares; which MarketBeat said was a more than 108% increase. Similarly, Edgestream Partners L.P. purchased 185,648 shares of Alkermes’ stock; the 218.4% increase gave it a cumulative 270,671 shares.
Loomis Sayles & Co. L P also boosted its ownership of Alkermes in the third quarter to 1,882,936 shares of the company’s stock by purchasing an additional 1,478,422 shares, marking a 365.5% increase.
The Goldman Sachs Group and several other analysts — a total of 10, according to MarketBeat — have issued a buy rating for Alkermes’ stock. Mizuho raised its price objective for the company’s stock in November; Stifel Nicolaus also introduced a higher expectation for shares of Alkermes, lifting its target from $25 to $36 during the same month.
Backing Biotech
Analysts have also weighed in on biotechnology company Grifols, S.A. in recent quarters. Berenberg Bank, for instance, issuing a strong buy rating for the Spain-headquartered company in October, according to MarketBeat.
Several institutional investors’ purchasing activity seemed to correlate with the bank’s assessment.
Whitebox Advisors LLC added 1,519,093 shares of Grifols’ stock in the third quarter, giving it an ownership of 4,221,483 shares — a more than 56% increase, MarketBeat said. JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s stake in the company increased by 144% in the third quarter after obtaining 1,181,959 shares of Grifols’ stock. JPMorgan Chase now has 2,002,511 shares.
Brandes Investment Partners LP added 1,481,924 shares of the company’s stock, for a total of 18,596,790 shares, an 8.7% increase. Armistice Capital also grew its holdings in the third quarter of 2024, resulting in an ownership of 9,536,000 shares of Grifols’ stock— a more than 20% increase from its prior holdings, according to Nasdaq.
Grifols provides items such as immunoglobulin used to treat immunodeficiencies and albumin — which can help restore circulatory volume and protein loss that is related to liver cirrhosis, cardiocirculatory failure, trauma and severe burns.
The biotech company’s other offerings include a plasma protein used to treat a genetic disease, Fostamatinib, a spleen tyrosine kinase inhibitor, and a product used to treat Alzheimer’s disease. More than half — 53.31% — of Grifols’ stock is owned by institutional investors, according to Nasdaq data.
Pursuing Device Provider Stock
Hedge funds and other institutional investors have also procured shares of medical product manufacturer Intuitive Surgical, Inc. — a company founded in 1995 that develops items to facilitate minimally invasive care.
The products Intuitive Surgical has introduced to assist with complex surgery, for instance, include the robotic da Vinci Surgical System, which can magnify surgeons’ view of an area of the body, offering 10 times the definition the human eye alone could see.
More than 15 analysts have indicated they feel the company’s stock should have a buy rating. BTIG Research raised its price target for Intuitive Surgical’s stock from $535 to $561 in late November; and Truist Financial set a higher price objective — $640, compared to its previous $666 estimation — in a January report.
Approximately 84% of Intuitive Surgical’s stock is owned by institutional investors, according to MarketBeat.
Some of the institutional investors that have added shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock to their roster include Brookstone Capital Management and Miracle Mile Advisors LLC. In the third quarter, Brookstone Capital Management purchased another 1,909 shares of Intuitive Surgical’s stock, giving it a total of 14,439 shares, a more than 15% increase from its previous holdings. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC added 129 shares for a total of 1,805 shares of Intuitive Surgical stock, a 7.7% increase.
The Czech National Bank acquired 4,665 shares of the company during the quarter, growing its holdings by more than 6% to of 72,257 shares; and Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC elevated its shares of the company, adding 314 more, which raised its number of shares 3.1% to 10,559.
Armistice Capital also obtained shares of Intuitive Surgical stock in 2024. According to the 13-F form the hedge fund filed in November, Armistice owned 57,326 shares of the company’s stock in the third quarter.
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