Royalty Pharma PLC $RPRX Shares Sold by First Trust Advisors LP

First Trust Advisors LP trimmed its position in Royalty Pharma PLC (NASDAQ:RPRX) by 7.0% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 786,395 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 59,150 shares during the quarter. First Trust Advisors LP’s holdings in Royalty Pharma were worth $37,723,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Phillips Wealth Planners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Royalty Pharma by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. Phillips Wealth Planners LLC now owns 13,113 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $521,000 after purchasing an additional 242 shares during the period. Strs Ohio raised its holdings in Royalty Pharma by 2.8% in the fourth quarter. Strs Ohio now owns 9,318 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $360,000 after buying an additional 252 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd raised its holdings in Royalty Pharma by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 43,287 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $1,673,000 after buying an additional 255 shares during the period. Cary Street Partners Financial LLC raised its holdings in Royalty Pharma by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. Cary Street Partners Financial LLC now owns 24,405 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $943,000 after buying an additional 260 shares during the period. Finally, Bessemer Group Inc. lifted its position in Royalty Pharma by 34.7% during the first quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 1,094 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $53,000 after buying an additional 282 shares in the last quarter. 54.35% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other Royalty Pharma news, CFO Terrance P. Coyne sold 64,399 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, EVP Marshall Urist sold 13,684 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $52.75, for a total transaction of $721,831.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 18,197 shares in the company, valued at $959,891.75. This represents a 42.92% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 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 valued at $21,601,827 over the last ninety days. 18.84% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on RPRX shares. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Royalty Pharma from $51.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Royalty Pharma from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 9th. TD Cowen lifted their target price on shares of Royalty Pharma from $50.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, July 13th. 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. Finally, Citigroup increased their price target on Royalty Pharma from $50.00 to $66.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 7th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $56.57.

Royalty Pharma Stock Performance

Royalty Pharma stock opened at $58.73 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $33.82 billion, a PE ratio of 39.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 10.42 and a beta of 0.43. Royalty Pharma PLC has a one year low of $34.08 and a one year high of $59.72. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $55.73 and its 200 day moving average price is $49.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 2.66 and a current ratio of 2.66.

Royalty Pharma (NASDAQ:RPRX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 6th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $1.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.22 by $0.08. Royalty Pharma had a net margin of 33.88% and a return on equity of 29.25%. The company had revenue of $630.58 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $881.69 million. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Royalty Pharma PLC will post 5.18 EPS for the current fiscal 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 is Friday, August 14th. This represents a $0.94 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.6%. Royalty Pharma’s dividend payout ratio is 63.95%.

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.