Royalty Pharma PLC (NASDAQ:RPRX) Receives Consensus Rating of “Buy” from Analysts

Shares of Royalty Pharma PLC (NASDAQ:RPRX) have received an average recommendation of “Buy” from the eight ratings firms that are covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy recommendation. The average twelve-month price objective among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $61.2857.

A number of research firms recently weighed in on RPRX. Wall Street Zen upgraded Royalty Pharma from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Saturday, September 12th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $65.00 target price on shares of Royalty Pharma in a report on Thursday, August 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Royalty Pharma from $58.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 7th. Weiss Ratings raised Royalty Pharma from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research note on Monday. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $66.00 price objective on shares of Royalty Pharma in a research report on Thursday, August 6th.

Insider Activity at Royalty Pharma

In other news, EVP Christopher Hite sold 150,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $54.40, for a total value of $8,160,000.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 559,399 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $30,431,305.60. This represents a 21.14% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, EVP Marshall Urist sold 9,099 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.88, for a total transaction of $508,452.12. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 398,197 shares of company stock valued at $22,513,280. Company insiders own 18.84% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Royalty Pharma

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. LM Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Royalty Pharma during the 4th quarter worth about $26,000. Lloyd Advisory Services LLC. acquired a new position in shares of Royalty Pharma in the 4th quarter valued at about $30,000. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Royalty Pharma by 173.4% in the 1st quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 689 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 437 shares during the period. CoreCap Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Royalty Pharma by 89.2% in the 2nd quarter. CoreCap Advisors LLC now owns 876 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $49,000 after purchasing an additional 413 shares during the period. Finally, Bessemer Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Royalty Pharma by 34.7% during the 1st quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 1,094 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $53,000 after purchasing an additional 282 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 54.35% of the company’s stock.

Royalty Pharma Trading Down 1.2%

Shares of NASDAQ:RPRX traded down $0.72 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $58.21. 202,393 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,441,598. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $59.41 and its 200 day moving average price is $54.05. Royalty Pharma has a 12 month low of $34.63 and a 12 month high of $64.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.88, a quick ratio of 2.80 and a current ratio of 2.80. The stock has a market capitalization of $33.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.15, a P/E/G ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 0.44.

Royalty Pharma (NASDAQ:RPRX) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $1.32 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.27 by $0.05. Royalty Pharma had a net margin of 32.14% and a return on equity of 30.01%. The business had revenue of $674.14 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $758.93 million. Analysts predict that Royalty Pharma will post 5.32 earnings per share for the current year.

Royalty Pharma Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 14th were given a dividend of $0.235 per share. This represents a $0.94 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 14th. Royalty Pharma’s dividend payout ratio is currently 64.83%.

About Royalty Pharma

Royalty Pharma plc is a biopharmaceutical royalty company that provides funding to life sciences companies in exchange for rights to receive future royalty payments from commercialized or late-stage therapies. Rather than developing and marketing medicines itself, the company invests in pharmaceutical and biotechnology innovations and seeks to generate income from the resulting royalty streams.

Its portfolio is linked to a range of therapies across areas including oncology, immunology, neuroscience, rare diseases and other specialty markets.