Vanguard Group Inc. Trims Stock Holdings in Royalty Pharma PLC $RPRX

Vanguard Group Inc. lowered its stake in Royalty Pharma PLC (NASDAQ:RPRX) by 0.8% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 36,377,678 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 299,770 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. owned about 6.47% of Royalty Pharma worth $1,310,688,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. USA Financial Formulas purchased a new position in Royalty Pharma during the second quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Summit Securities Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Royalty Pharma in the first quarter worth $36,000. WPG Advisers LLC bought a new stake in shares of Royalty Pharma during the 1st quarter valued at $39,000. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB lifted its stake in shares of Royalty Pharma by 42.1% during the 2nd quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 1,358 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $49,000 after buying an additional 402 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Farther Finance Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Royalty Pharma by 113.8% in the 2nd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 1,428 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $51,000 after buying an additional 760 shares during the period. 54.35% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on RPRX shares. Weiss Ratings lowered Royalty Pharma from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Saturday, October 25th. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on Royalty Pharma in a report on Tuesday, September 30th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $42.00 price target on the stock. TD Cowen lowered shares of Royalty Pharma from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, November 17th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Royalty Pharma from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Saturday, November 15th. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on shares of Royalty Pharma from $55.00 to $54.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 10th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $46.00.

Royalty Pharma Stock Performance

NASDAQ:RPRX opened at $38.92 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 3.48 and a quick ratio of 3.48. Royalty Pharma PLC has a 1 year low of $24.05 and a 1 year high of $41.24. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $37.04 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $35.91. The company has a market cap of $22.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.48, a PEG ratio of 2.05 and a beta of 0.56.

Royalty Pharma (NASDAQ:RPRX) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, November 5th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $1.17 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.11 by $0.06. Royalty Pharma had a return on equity of 26.36% and a net margin of 32.51%.The firm had revenue of $609.29 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $765.01 million. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Royalty Pharma PLC will post 4.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Royalty Pharma Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 14th will be paid a $0.22 dividend. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 14th. Royalty Pharma’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 66.67%.

Insider Transactions at Royalty Pharma

In other Royalty Pharma news, CFO Terrance P. Coyne sold 69,594 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.30, for a total transaction of $2,735,044.20. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 54,760 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,152,068. The trade was a 55.96% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP George W. Lloyd sold 132,426 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $38.34, for a total value of $5,077,212.84. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 274,614 shares of company stock worth $10,662,321. Insiders own 18.90% of the company’s stock.

Royalty Pharma Profile

Royalty Pharma plc operates as a buyer of biopharmaceutical royalties and a funder of innovations in the biopharmaceutical industry in the United States. It is also involved in the identification, evaluation, and acquisition of royalties on various biopharmaceutical therapies. In addition, the company collaborates with innovators from academic institutions, research hospitals and not-for-profits, small and mid-cap biotechnology companies, and pharmaceutical companies.