Insider Selling: Royalty Pharma (NASDAQ:RPRX) EVP Sells 150,000 Shares of Stock

Royalty Pharma PLC (NASDAQ:RPRX) EVP Christopher Hite sold 150,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $54.40, for a total value of $8,160,000.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 559,399 shares in the company, valued at $30,431,305.60. This trade represents a 21.14% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

Royalty Pharma Stock Up 0.8%

Royalty Pharma stock traded up $0.41 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $54.69. The stock had a trading volume of 2,461,173 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,711,937. The company has a market cap of $31.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.20, a PEG ratio of 1.52 and a beta of 0.43. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $52.54 and its 200-day moving average price is $46.42. Royalty Pharma PLC has a 52 week low of $34.08 and a 52 week high of $56.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 2.66 and a quick 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, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.22 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $630.58 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $881.69 million. Royalty Pharma had a net margin of 33.88% and a return on equity of 29.25%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Royalty Pharma PLC will post 5.05 EPS for the current year.

Royalty Pharma Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 15th were issued a dividend of $0.235 per share. This represents a $0.94 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.7%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 15th. Royalty Pharma’s dividend payout ratio is currently 63.95%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Royalty Pharma

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in RPRX. Morgan Stanley lifted its stake in shares of Royalty Pharma by 25.2% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 55,274,069 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $2,135,790,000 after purchasing an additional 11,110,115 shares during the period. Capital International Investors increased its holdings in Royalty Pharma by 24.4% in the third 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 acquired a new position in shares of Royalty Pharma in the fourth quarter worth about $131,923,000. Dorsey Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Royalty Pharma in the third quarter worth about $82,924,000. Finally, Qube Research & Technologies Ltd boosted its stake in shares of Royalty Pharma by 737.3% during the 3rd 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. 54.35% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts recently issued reports on RPRX shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Royalty Pharma from $50.00 to $58.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Weiss Ratings downgraded Royalty Pharma from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Friday, May 15th. TD Cowen restated a “buy” rating on shares of Royalty Pharma in a research note on Friday, February 27th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Royalty Pharma from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Saturday, May 9th. Finally, Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Royalty Pharma from $50.00 to $66.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Seven equities research 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 $53.71.

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.