Regal Partners Ltd Reduces Stock Position in Royalty Pharma PLC $RPRX

Regal Partners Ltd lessened its holdings in shares of Royalty Pharma PLC (NASDAQ:RPRX) by 0.6% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 2,624,472 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 16,236 shares during the period. Royalty Pharma makes up approximately 6.8% of Regal Partners Ltd’s holdings, making the stock its 6th largest position. Regal Partners Ltd’s holdings in Royalty Pharma were worth $125,896,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Morgan Stanley increased its position in Royalty Pharma by 25.2% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 55,274,069 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $2,135,790,000 after buying an additional 11,110,115 shares during the period. Capital International Investors lifted its holdings in shares of Royalty Pharma by 14.3% during the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 31,104,309 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $1,201,870,000 after buying an additional 3,891,615 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Royalty Pharma in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $131,923,000. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd boosted its position in shares of Royalty Pharma by 737.3% in the third quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 2,481,771 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $87,557,000 after acquiring an additional 2,185,366 shares during the period. Finally, Millennium Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Royalty Pharma by 379.2% in the third quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 2,235,133 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $78,855,000 after acquiring an additional 1,768,702 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 54.35% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

RPRX has been the topic of a number of research reports. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price 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. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Royalty Pharma from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Friday, May 15th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Royalty Pharma from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Royalty Pharma from $50.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 7th. Finally, Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Royalty Pharma from $50.00 to $66.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $56.57.

Insider Activity

In other Royalty Pharma news, CFO Terrance P. Coyne sold 64,399 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $53.98, for a total value of $3,476,258.02. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Gregory Norden sold 3,045 shares of Royalty Pharma stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $53.00, for a total value of $161,385.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 191,803 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,165,559. The trade was a 1.56% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 393,009 shares of company stock worth $21,601,827. Corporate insiders own 18.84% of the company’s stock.

Royalty Pharma Trading Up 2.1%

Shares of RPRX opened at $59.97 on Wednesday. Royalty Pharma PLC has a 1 year low of $34.08 and a 1 year high of $60.08. The company has a current ratio of 2.66, a quick ratio of 2.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $55.88 and a 200-day simple moving average of $49.54. The stock has a market cap of $34.53 billion, a PE ratio of 40.80, a PEG ratio of 10.40 and a beta of 0.43.

Royalty Pharma (NASDAQ:RPRX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $1.30 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.22 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $630.58 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $881.69 million. Royalty Pharma had a return on equity of 29.25% and a net margin of 33.88%. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Royalty Pharma PLC will post 5.18 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Royalty Pharma Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 10th. Investors of record on Friday, August 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.235 per share. This represents a $0.94 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 14th. Royalty Pharma’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 63.95%.

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.