Royal Bank of Canada Purchases 23,479 Shares of Royalty Pharma PLC $RPRX

Royal Bank of Canada increased its position in shares of Royalty Pharma PLC (NASDAQ:RPRX) by 15.0% during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 179,902 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after acquiring an additional 23,479 shares during the period. Royal Bank of Canada’s holdings in Royalty Pharma were worth $8,628,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of RPRX. LM Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Royalty Pharma during the fourth quarter valued at about $26,000. Lloyd Advisory Services LLC. purchased a new stake in shares of Royalty Pharma during the fourth quarter worth about $30,000. Private Trust Co. NA raised its stake in Royalty Pharma by 52.9% during the 4th quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 832 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 288 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its holdings in Royalty Pharma by 173.4% in the 1st quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 689 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 437 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC boosted its stake in Royalty Pharma by 66.4% in the 4th quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 1,118 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $43,000 after purchasing an additional 446 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 54.35% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $65.00 target price on shares of Royalty Pharma in a research note on Thursday. Wall Street Zen cut Royalty Pharma from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday. Bank of America reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Royalty Pharma in a research note on Wednesday. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Royalty Pharma from $51.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. Finally, Citigroup increased their target price on Royalty Pharma from $50.00 to $66.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $60.86.

Royalty Pharma Stock Performance

RPRX opened at $56.77 on Monday. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $56.47 and a 200 day moving average of $50.54. The company has a current ratio of 2.80, a quick ratio of 2.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.88. Royalty Pharma PLC has a 12 month low of $34.08 and a 12 month high of $60.44. The firm has a market cap of $32.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.15, a P/E/G ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 0.43.

Royalty Pharma (NASDAQ:RPRX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 5th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $1.32 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.27 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $674.14 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $758.93 million. Royalty Pharma had a return on equity of 30.01% and a net margin of 32.14%. As a group, research analysts forecast that Royalty Pharma PLC will post 5.26 EPS for the current year.

Royalty Pharma Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 14th will be paid a $0.235 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 14th. This represents a $0.94 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.7%. Royalty Pharma’s dividend payout ratio is currently 64.83%.

Insider Activity

In other Royalty Pharma news, EVP Christopher Hite sold 100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.52, for a total value of $5,652,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 459,399 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $25,965,231.48. This trade represents a 17.88% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO Terrance P. Coyne sold 64,399 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $53.98, for a total value of $3,476,258.02. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold a total of 393,009 shares of company stock worth $21,601,827 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 18.84% of the company’s stock.

Royalty Pharma 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.