Royalty Pharma (NASDAQ:RPRX) Upgraded by Wall Street Zen to “Strong-Buy” Rating

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Royalty Pharma (NASDAQ:RPRX) from a buy rating to a strong-buy rating in a research report sent to investors on Saturday morning,Wall Street Zen reports.

A number of other analysts also recently weighed in on the company. TD Cowen lifted their price target on Royalty Pharma from $65.00 to $68.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 8th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Royalty Pharma in a research report on Wednesday, August 12th. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $65.00 target price on shares of Royalty Pharma in a report on Thursday, August 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $66.00 price target on shares of Royalty Pharma in a research note on Thursday, August 6th. Finally, Bank of America reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Royalty Pharma in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $61.29.

Royalty Pharma Trading Down 0.2%

NASDAQ RPRX opened at $58.61 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.80, a current ratio of 2.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.88. The stock has a market capitalization of $33.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.42, a P/E/G ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 0.44. Royalty Pharma has a 52-week low of $34.63 and a 52-week high of $64.38. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $59.33 and a 200 day moving average price of $53.62.

Royalty Pharma (NASDAQ:RPRX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 5th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $1.32 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.27 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $674.14 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $758.93 million. Royalty Pharma had a return on equity of 30.01% and a net margin of 32.14%. Equities research analysts expect that Royalty Pharma will post 5.32 EPS for the current year.

Royalty Pharma Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 10th. Investors of record on Friday, August 14th were issued a $0.235 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 14th. This represents a $0.94 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.6%. Royalty Pharma’s dividend payout ratio is currently 64.83%.

Insider Activity at Royalty Pharma

In related news, EVP Christopher Hite sold 150,000 shares of Royalty Pharma stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $54.40, for a total transaction of $8,160,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 559,399 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $30,431,305.60. The trade was a 21.14% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, EVP Marshall Urist sold 9,099 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.88, for a total value of $508,452.12. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 398,197 shares of company stock valued at $22,513,280 over the last ninety days. 18.84% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Royalty Pharma

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Royal Bank of Canada raised its position in Royalty Pharma by 367.7% during the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 203,760 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $6,342,000 after acquiring an additional 160,191 shares during the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. grew its position in shares of Royalty Pharma by 20.3% in the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 79,990 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $2,490,000 after purchasing an additional 13,489 shares during the last quarter. Focus Partners Wealth purchased a new position in shares of Royalty Pharma during the 1st quarter worth approximately $264,000. Intech Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Royalty Pharma by 41.0% during the 1st quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 47,992 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $1,494,000 after purchasing an additional 13,951 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Royalty Pharma by 21.4% during the 2nd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,559,378 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $56,184,000 after purchasing an additional 274,960 shares in the last quarter. 54.35% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Royalty Pharma Company Profile

Royalty Pharma plc is a biopharmaceutical royalty company that provides funding to life sciences companies in exchange for rights to receive future royalty payments from commercialized or late-stage therapies. Rather than developing and marketing medicines itself, the company invests in pharmaceutical and biotechnology innovations and seeks to generate income from the resulting royalty streams.

Its portfolio is linked to a range of therapies across areas including oncology, immunology, neuroscience, rare diseases and other specialty markets.