Royalty Pharma (NASDAQ:RPRX) Sets New 1-Year High – Time to Buy?

Royalty Pharma PLC (NASDAQ:RPRX)’s share price reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $62.58 and last traded at $62.2280, with a volume of 110214 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $61.41.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

RPRX has been the topic of several recent research reports. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $65.00 target price on shares of Royalty Pharma in a research note on Thursday, August 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Royalty Pharma from $58.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, August 7th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Royalty Pharma from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Sunday. Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of Royalty Pharma from $50.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 7th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Royalty Pharma in a research note on Wednesday, August 12th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $60.86.

Royalty Pharma Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.88, a quick ratio of 2.80 and a current ratio of 2.80. The company has a market capitalization of $35.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 0.43. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $58.32 and a 200-day moving average price of $52.62.

Royalty Pharma (NASDAQ:RPRX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $1.32 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.27 by $0.05. Royalty Pharma had a net margin of 32.14% and a return on equity of 30.01%. The business had revenue of $674.14 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $758.93 million. On average, equities research analysts expect that Royalty Pharma PLC will post 5.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Royalty Pharma Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.235 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 14th. This represents a $0.94 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.5%. Royalty Pharma’s payout ratio is currently 64.83%.

Insider Transactions at Royalty Pharma

In other Royalty Pharma news, EVP Christopher Hite sold 150,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $54.40, for a total value of $8,160,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 559,399 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $30,431,305.60. The trade was a 21.14% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing 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 9,099 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.88, for a total value of $508,452.12. 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 three months, insiders sold 398,197 shares of company stock valued at $22,513,280. Insiders own 18.84% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Royalty Pharma

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in RPRX. Morgan Stanley boosted its stake in Royalty Pharma by 25.2% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 55,274,069 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $2,135,790,000 after purchasing an additional 11,110,115 shares during the period. California State Teachers Retirement System raised its stake in shares of Royalty Pharma by 5,065.0% in the 2nd quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 39,204,424 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $2,198,192,000 after purchasing an additional 38,445,382 shares during the period. Capital International Investors lifted its holdings in shares of Royalty Pharma by 14.3% in the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 31,104,309 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $1,201,870,000 after purchasing an additional 3,891,615 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Royalty Pharma by 3.7% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 10,649,641 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $411,502,000 after purchasing an additional 376,888 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Royalty Pharma by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,719,843 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $297,465,000 after buying an additional 102,430 shares during the period. 54.35% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.