Alkermes and Cogent Biosciences Stock See Action From Activist Investors

Sarissa Capital issued a press release on June 13 urging Alkermes shareholders to vote for its board nominees at Alkermes’ June 29 shareholders meeting. Sarissa believes representation is needed given the company’s poor performance over the years, as it believes Chairman and CEO Richard Pops “has presided over massive destruction of shareholder value…managing to operate a $1 billion revenue-generating company…at a perpetual loss with limited oversight by the board.”

Alkermes countered by saying that it has “refreshed 70% of the board’s independent directors,” since 2019. Further, since Alkermes’ management introduced its Value Enhancement Plan in December 2020, its stock price has gained 49%, the result of “action to realign the company’s priorities, refine its strategic and operational focus, and effect governance changes.”

On June 6, Alkermes said it received a final award in its arbitration proceedings with
Johnson & Johnson
(JNJ) unit Janssen Pharmaceutica.

Increases in Holdings

Cogent Biosciences
(COGT)

Fairmount Funds raised its position in the biopharmaceutical company to 19,962,564 shares, including 16,403,589 shares underlying convertible preferred securities, subject to a 19.99% ownership limitation. Fairmount added 800,000 Cogent Biosciences shares on June 9 through an offering that priced those shares at $12.00 apiece.

Following the offering’s close, Fairmount owned 19.99% of the biopharma’s outstanding stock.

Decreases in Holdings

AutoNation
(AN)

Edward Lampert trimmed his interest in the auto-parts retailer to 5,259,642 shares. That figure includes 4,408 shares held in a liability account overseen by Lampert’s ESL Investments as well as 162,002 shares owned by The Lampert Foundation. Lampert sold 192,184 AutoNation shares at prices ranging from $133.47 to $145.19 each from April 14 through June 7.

Those were the latest sales in a long run during which Lampert cut his AutoNation interest from 15.5%, as reported in early May 2022, to the current 11.5%.

Viridian Therapeutics
(VRDN)

Atlas Venture Fund liquidated its stake in the pharmaceutical company. Atlas exited Viridian Therapeutics after it sold 209,505 common shares from May 23 through June 7 at per-share prices ranging from $24.00 to $24.96. No reason was cited for Atlas’ exit.

Through the close of June 15, Viridian’s stock price has lost about 5% this year.

On June 14, the pharmaceutical company was upgraded by Credit Suisse to Outperform with a $51 price target. The same day, BTIG Research initiated coverage of Viridian stock with a Buy rating.

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