Royalty Pharma (NASDAQ:RPRX) Reaches New 52-Week High – Here’s What Happened

Royalty Pharma PLC (NASDAQ:RPRX)’s share price reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $53.48 and last traded at $53.43, with a volume of 1724718 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $53.06.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have weighed in on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Royalty Pharma in a report on Thursday, February 12th. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Royalty Pharma from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Friday, May 15th. TD Cowen reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Royalty Pharma in a research note on Friday, February 27th. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Royalty Pharma from $51.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. Finally, Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Royalty Pharma from $50.00 to $66.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $53.71.

Royalty Pharma Stock Up 1.8%

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 2.66 and a quick ratio of 2.66. The stock has a market cap of $31.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 0.40. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $49.03 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $43.91.

Royalty Pharma (NASDAQ:RPRX) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $1.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.22 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $631.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $881.69 million. Royalty Pharma had a return on equity of 29.25% and a net margin of 33.88%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Royalty Pharma PLC will post 5.05 EPS for the current year.

Royalty Pharma Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 10th. Investors of record on Friday, May 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.235 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 15th. This represents a $0.94 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.7%. Royalty Pharma’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 63.95%.

Insider Activity at Royalty Pharma

In other Royalty Pharma news, Director Gregory Norden sold 3,045 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $53.00, for a total value of $161,385.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 191,803 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,165,559. This represents a 1.56% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, EVP Marshall Urist sold 13,684 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $53.06, for a total transaction of $726,073.04. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 31,881 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,691,605.86. This trade represents a 30.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 169,577 shares of company stock worth $8,234,191. 18.84% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Royalty Pharma

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Royal Bank of Canada grew its stake in Royalty Pharma by 367.7% in the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 203,760 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $6,342,000 after acquiring an additional 160,191 shares during the period. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Royalty Pharma by 20.3% during the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 79,990 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $2,490,000 after purchasing an additional 13,489 shares in the last quarter. Focus Partners Wealth bought a new position in shares of Royalty Pharma during the 1st quarter valued at about $264,000. Intech Investment Management LLC grew its position in shares of Royalty Pharma by 41.0% in the 1st quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 47,992 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $1,494,000 after purchasing an additional 13,951 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. grew its position in shares of Royalty Pharma by 21.4% in the 2nd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,559,378 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $56,184,000 after purchasing an additional 274,960 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 54.35% of the company’s stock.

About Royalty Pharma

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.