Legal & General Group Plc Buys 265,532 Shares of Royalty Pharma PLC $RPRX

Legal & General Group Plc lifted its stake in shares of Royalty Pharma PLC (NASDAQ:RPRX) by 9.4% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 3,088,098 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after buying an additional 265,532 shares during the quarter. Legal & General Group Plc’s holdings in Royalty Pharma were worth $119,324,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Royalty Pharma by 28.5% during the third quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 140,131 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $4,944,000 after purchasing an additional 31,045 shares during the period. Regal Partners Ltd boosted its stake in shares of Royalty Pharma by 6.7% in the third quarter. Regal Partners Ltd now owns 1,435,126 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $50,631,000 after buying an additional 89,930 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its stake in shares of Royalty Pharma by 4.7% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 812,663 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $31,604,000 after buying an additional 36,664 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. grew its position in Royalty Pharma by 15.1% during the fourth quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 1,268,044 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $48,997,000 after buying an additional 166,403 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fideuram Intesa Sanpaolo Private Banking S.P.A. acquired a new stake in Royalty Pharma during the fourth quarter worth approximately $4,923,000. Institutional investors own 54.35% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Terrance P. Coyne sold 64,399 shares of the firm’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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 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 Thursday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $53.06, for a total transaction of $726,073.04. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 31,881 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,691,605.86. The trade was a 30.03% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 233,976 shares of company stock valued at $11,710,449. 18.84% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Royalty Pharma Stock Up 0.9%

Shares of RPRX opened at $54.48 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $49.69 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $44.38. 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 PLC has a one year low of $32.29 and a one year high of $54.74. The company has a market cap of $31.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.06, a P/E/G ratio of 1.48 and a beta of 0.40.

Royalty Pharma (NASDAQ:RPRX) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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 return on equity of 29.25% and a net margin of 33.88%.The company had revenue of $630.58 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $881.69 million. Research analysts forecast that Royalty Pharma PLC will post 5.05 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Royalty Pharma Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 15th will be given a $0.235 dividend. This represents a $0.94 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.7%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 15th. Royalty Pharma’s payout ratio is currently 63.95%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have weighed in on RPRX. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Royalty Pharma from $51.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Royalty Pharma from $50.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 7th. Weiss Ratings cut Royalty Pharma from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Friday, May 15th. Citigroup boosted their price target on Royalty Pharma from $50.00 to $66.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Royalty Pharma from $61.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, April 10th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $53.71.

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.