Royalty Pharma (NASDAQ:RPRX) Cut to “Buy” at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Royalty Pharma (NASDAQ:RPRX) from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a research note issued to investors on Saturday morning.

A number of other equities analysts also recently commented on the stock. Leerink Partners set a $45.00 price objective on shares of Royalty Pharma in a report on Thursday, December 11th. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Royalty Pharma from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 27th. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Royalty Pharma in a research report on Thursday. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Royalty Pharma from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, TD Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Royalty Pharma in a report on Thursday, December 11th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $48.67.

Royalty Pharma Stock Up 0.9%

Shares of Royalty Pharma stock opened at $45.19 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.40, a current ratio of 2.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.88. The firm has a market cap of $26.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.47 and a beta of 0.42. Royalty Pharma has a fifty-two week low of $29.66 and a fifty-two week high of $45.91. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $40.53 and a 200 day moving average price of $38.34.

Royalty Pharma (NASDAQ:RPRX) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 11th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $1.46 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.33 by $0.13. Royalty Pharma had a return on equity of 28.21% and a net margin of 32.38%.The company had revenue of $621.99 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $839.97 million. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Royalty Pharma will post 4.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Royalty Pharma Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 20th will be given a dividend of $0.235 per share. This is a boost from Royalty Pharma’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. This represents a $0.94 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.1%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 20th. Royalty Pharma’s payout ratio is presently 65.19%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Royalty Pharma news, EVP George W. Lloyd sold 132,426 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $38.34, for a total transaction of $5,077,212.84. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Terrance P. Coyne sold 114,954 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.84, for a total value of $4,924,629.36. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 23,972 shares in the company, valued at $1,026,960.48. This trade represents a 82.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 1,170,028 shares of company stock valued at $46,545,276 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 18.90% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Royalty Pharma

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in RPRX. Morgan Stanley raised its holdings in Royalty Pharma by 25.2% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 55,274,069 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $2,135,790,000 after purchasing an additional 11,110,115 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors increased its position in shares of Royalty Pharma by 24.4% during the 3rd quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 27,212,694 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $960,064,000 after purchasing an additional 5,332,074 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Royalty Pharma in the 2nd quarter worth $181,388,000. Dorsey Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Royalty Pharma in the third quarter valued at $82,924,000. Finally, Qube Research & Technologies Ltd boosted its stake in Royalty Pharma by 737.3% during the third quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 2,481,771 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $87,557,000 after buying an additional 2,185,366 shares in the last quarter. 54.35% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Royalty Pharma Company Profile

Royalty Pharma plc is a specialty finance company that acquires biopharmaceutical royalty interests and provides non-dilutive financing to drug developers and rights holders. The firm purchases future royalty streams, milestone-contingent payments and other revenue rights linked to approved and late-stage pharmaceutical and biotechnology products. By paying upfront consideration for these rights, Royalty Pharma seeks to generate long-term cash flows tied to the commercial performance of a diversified portfolio of medicines.

The company’s transaction structures include outright royalty purchases, structured financings and milestone arrangements tailored to the needs of innovator companies, academic institutions and investors.