Regeneron Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:REGN) Upgraded at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Regeneron Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:REGN) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note published on Saturday.

Other analysts also recently issued reports about the company. Evercore boosted their target price on Regeneron Pharmaceuticals from $750.00 to $875.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Regeneron Pharmaceuticals from $850.00 to $950.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, February 2nd. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Regeneron Pharmaceuticals from $768.00 to $769.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, February 2nd. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Regeneron Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group increased their price objective on shares of Regeneron Pharmaceuticals from $850.00 to $1,057.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 4th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $802.27.

Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Trading Up 1.6%

Shares of Regeneron Pharmaceuticals stock opened at $749.29 on Friday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $765.00 and a two-hundred day moving average of $709.34. Regeneron Pharmaceuticals has a 12-month low of $476.49 and a 12-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. The stock has a market cap of $79.21 billion, a PE ratio of 18.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.98 and a beta of 0.40.

Regeneron Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:REGN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 30th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $11.44 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $10.74 by $0.70. The business had revenue of $3.88 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.76 billion. Regeneron Pharmaceuticals had a return on equity of 13.04% and a net margin of 31.41%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up 2.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $12.07 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Regeneron Pharmaceuticals will post 35.92 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 5th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 20th were given a dividend of $0.94 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was 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 9.05%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Jason Pitofsky sold 2,036 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $778.52, for a total transaction of $1,585,066.72. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 4,272 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,325,837.44. This trade represents a 32.28% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Arthur F. Ryan sold 100 shares of Regeneron Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $778.53, for a total value of $77,853.00. Following the sale, the director owned 17,803 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,860,169.59. This represents a 0.56% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 5,274 shares of company stock valued at $4,142,738. 7.02% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Regeneron Pharmaceuticals

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Osaic Holdings Inc. increased its stake in shares of Regeneron Pharmaceuticals by 55.2% during the 2nd quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 17,068 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $9,607,000 after acquiring an additional 6,073 shares during the last quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. boosted its position in shares of Regeneron Pharmaceuticals by 153.4% in the third quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 120,884 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $67,969,000 after acquiring an additional 73,176 shares during the last quarter. PGGM Investments grew its holdings in Regeneron Pharmaceuticals by 9.7% in the third quarter. PGGM Investments now owns 92,584 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $52,057,000 after purchasing an additional 8,187 shares during the period. Sound Shore Management Inc CT acquired a new position in Regeneron Pharmaceuticals during the third quarter worth approximately $64,677,000. Finally, Rakuten Investment Management Inc. purchased a new position in Regeneron Pharmaceuticals during the third quarter worth approximately $33,121,000. 83.31% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Regeneron Pharmaceuticals

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.