Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Co Raises Stock Holdings in Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc. $REGN

Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Co boosted its stake in shares of Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:REGN) by 9.3% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 19,888 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after buying an additional 1,700 shares during the quarter. Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Co’s holdings in Regeneron Pharmaceuticals were worth $11,182,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. State Street Corp boosted its position in shares of Regeneron Pharmaceuticals by 0.9% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,832,002 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $2,536,801,000 after purchasing an additional 42,343 shares during the period. Dodge & Cox boosted its position in shares of Regeneron Pharmaceuticals by 64.6% during the second quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 3,826,283 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $2,008,799,000 after buying an additional 1,502,198 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its stake in shares of Regeneron Pharmaceuticals by 1.6% in the second quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 2,313,496 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $1,214,585,000 after buying an additional 36,821 shares in the last quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P raised its holdings in shares of Regeneron Pharmaceuticals by 18.6% in the 2nd quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P now owns 1,941,070 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $1,019,062,000 after buying an additional 305,089 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in Regeneron Pharmaceuticals during the 2nd quarter worth about $628,151,000. 83.31% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Price Performance

Shares of REGN opened at $803.17 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $84.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.33, a PEG ratio of 2.11 and a beta of 0.40. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $762.17 and its 200-day simple moving average is $665.05. Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a twelve month low of $476.49 and a twelve month high of $821.11. The company has a current ratio of 4.13, a quick ratio of 3.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09.

Regeneron Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:REGN) last issued its earnings results on Friday, January 30th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $11.44 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $10.74 by $0.70. Regeneron Pharmaceuticals had a net margin of 31.41% and a return on equity of 13.04%. The firm had revenue of $3.88 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.76 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $12.07 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 2.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post 35.92 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 5th. Investors of record on Friday, February 20th will be paid a dividend of $0.94 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 20th. This is a positive change from Regeneron Pharmaceuticals’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.88. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.5%. Regeneron Pharmaceuticals’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.05%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Arthur F. Ryan sold 100 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $778.53, for a total value of $77,853.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 17,803 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,860,169.59. This represents a 0.56% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Bonnie L. Bassler sold 1,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $800.00, for a total transaction of $1,200,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 1,703 shares in the company, valued at $1,362,400. This trade represents a 46.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 3,636 shares of company stock worth $2,862,920 over the last 90 days. 7.02% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

REGN has been the subject of several research reports. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their target price on Regeneron Pharmaceuticals from $704.00 to $708.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Regeneron Pharmaceuticals in a report on Monday, December 29th. Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $865.00 target price (up from $750.00) on shares of Regeneron Pharmaceuticals in a report on Monday, February 2nd. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Regeneron Pharmaceuticals from $660.00 to $700.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. Finally, HSBC raised Regeneron Pharmaceuticals to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 24th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $793.81.

Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Profile

Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc (NASDAQ: REGN) is a U.S.-based biotechnology company founded in 1988 and headquartered in Tarrytown, New York. It focuses on discovering, developing, manufacturing and commercializing medicines for serious medical conditions. The company combines laboratory research, clinical development and in-house manufacturing to advance a pipeline of biologic therapies across multiple therapeutic areas.

Regeneron is known for its proprietary drug discovery technologies, including its VelocImmune platform, which is used to generate fully human monoclonal antibodies.