Keene & Associates Inc. Grows Position in Royalty Pharma plc (NASDAQ:RPRX)

Keene & Associates Inc. lifted its position in shares of Royalty Pharma plc (NASDAQ:RPRX) by 1.9% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 19,420 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after acquiring an additional 370 shares during the period. Keene & Associates Inc.’s holdings in Royalty Pharma were worth $495,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in RPRX. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its position in Royalty Pharma by 5.0% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,460,515 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $40,705,000 after buying an additional 70,130 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its holdings in Royalty Pharma by 171.1% in the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 101,500 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $2,777,000 after purchasing an additional 64,057 shares during the period. Summit Global Investments purchased a new stake in shares of Royalty Pharma in the third quarter valued at approximately $735,000. Pallas Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Royalty Pharma during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $2,355,000. Finally, Two Sigma Advisers LP lifted its position in shares of Royalty Pharma by 44.7% during the 3rd quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 3,033,200 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $85,809,000 after buying an additional 936,900 shares in the last quarter. 54.35% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Royalty Pharma Stock Performance

NASDAQ:RPRX opened at $32.85 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $19.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.66, a P/E/G ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 0.49. Royalty Pharma plc has a twelve month low of $24.05 and a twelve month high of $32.89. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $28.70 and its 200-day moving average price is $27.82. The company has a current ratio of 1.44, a quick ratio of 1.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64.

Royalty Pharma (NASDAQ:RPRX) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $1.15 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.99 by $0.16. Royalty Pharma had a net margin of 37.94% and a return on equity of 24.40%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Royalty Pharma plc will post 4.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Royalty Pharma Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 21st will be paid a dividend of $0.22 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 21st. This is an increase from Royalty Pharma’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.68%. Royalty Pharma’s payout ratio is 57.93%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently commented on RPRX. StockNews.com raised shares of Royalty Pharma from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. TD Cowen upgraded shares of Royalty Pharma to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 24th. Finally, Citigroup lowered their price objective on Royalty Pharma from $60.00 to $40.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 25th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $41.67.

Royalty Pharma Company 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.