Royalty Pharma PLC (NASDAQ:RPRX) Receives $47.50 Average Price Target from Analysts

Royalty Pharma PLC (NASDAQ:RPRX) has been given an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the six research firms that are covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold recommendation and five have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12 month price target among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $47.50.

RPRX has been the topic of several analyst reports. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Royalty Pharma from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, January 17th. TD Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Royalty Pharma in a research note on Thursday, December 11th. Citigroup raised their price objective on Royalty Pharma from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 27th. Leerink Partners set a $45.00 target price on Royalty Pharma in a research report on Thursday, December 11th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Royalty Pharma in a report on Thursday, January 22nd.

Royalty Pharma Stock Performance

RPRX stock opened at $44.05 on Thursday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $39.99 and a two-hundred day moving average of $38.07. Royalty Pharma has a 12 month low of $29.66 and a 12 month high of $44.92. The company has a market capitalization of $25.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.37, a P/E/G ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 0.42. The company has a quick ratio of 3.48, a current ratio of 3.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89.

Royalty Pharma Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 10th. Investors of record on Friday, February 20th will be issued a $0.235 dividend. This is a boost from Royalty Pharma’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 20th. This represents a $0.94 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.1%. Royalty Pharma’s payout ratio is 66.67%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Royalty Pharma news, CFO Terrance P. Coyne sold 114,954 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.84, for a total transaction of $4,924,629.36. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 23,972 shares in the company, valued at $1,026,960.48. This represents a 82.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP George W. Lloyd sold 132,426 shares of Royalty Pharma stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 19th. The stock was 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. In the last three months, insiders have sold 1,309,216 shares of company stock valued at $52,015,364. Company insiders own 18.90% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Capital International Investors boosted its position in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 5,332,074 shares during the period. Swedbank AB boosted its holdings in Royalty Pharma by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 12,200,270 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $430,426,000 after purchasing an additional 42,800 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in Royalty Pharma by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 10,272,753 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $362,423,000 after purchasing an additional 77,815 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Royalty Pharma by 2.2% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,176,504 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $299,494,000 after purchasing an additional 177,036 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Royalty Pharma during the 2nd quarter worth about $181,388,000. 54.35% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.