Insider Selling: Royalty Pharma (NASDAQ:RPRX) CFO Sells $872,856.27 in Stock

Royalty Pharma PLC (NASDAQ:RPRX) CFO Terrance Coyne sold 20,163 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.29, for a total value of $872,856.27. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 22,885 shares in the company, valued at approximately $990,691.65. The trade was a 46.84% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website.

Royalty Pharma Stock Performance

Shares of RPRX stock opened at $44.65 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $25.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.83, a PEG ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 0.42. Royalty Pharma PLC has a fifty-two week low of $29.66 and a fifty-two week high of $44.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 3.48 and a current ratio of 3.48. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $39.91 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $37.99.

Royalty Pharma (NASDAQ:RPRX) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, November 5th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $1.17 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.11 by $0.06. Royalty Pharma had a net margin of 32.51% and a return on equity of 26.36%. The company had revenue of $609.29 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $765.01 million. Analysts expect that Royalty Pharma PLC will post 4.49 earnings per share for the current year.

Royalty Pharma Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 20th will be given a $0.235 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 20th. This is a positive change from Royalty Pharma’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. This represents a $0.94 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.1%. Royalty Pharma’s dividend payout ratio is presently 66.67%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on RPRX shares. Wall Street Zen upgraded Royalty Pharma from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Saturday, January 17th. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on Royalty Pharma from $55.00 to $54.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 10th. Leerink Partners set a $45.00 target price on Royalty Pharma in a report on Thursday, December 11th. UBS Group upgraded shares of Royalty Pharma from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $49.00 price target on the stock in a report on Friday, January 30th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Royalty Pharma from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 27th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Royalty Pharma has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $47.50.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Royalty Pharma

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Capital International Investors boosted its holdings 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 buying an additional 5,332,074 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Royalty Pharma during the 2nd quarter valued at about $181,388,000. Dorsey Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in Royalty Pharma during the 3rd quarter valued at about $82,924,000. 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 worth $87,557,000 after acquiring an additional 2,185,366 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Millennium Management LLC grew its holdings in Royalty Pharma by 379.2% in the third quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 2,235,133 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $78,855,000 after purchasing an additional 1,768,702 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 54.35% of the company’s stock.

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.