On Monday, February 15th, Alyeska Investment Group L.P. purchased a new stake in shares of Royalty Pharma plc (NASDAQ:RPRX), according to the company’s latest filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 513,027 shares of the biopharmaceutical firm’s stock, valued at approximately $20,275,000. As of its most recent filing with the SEC, Alyeska owned 0.08% of Royalty Pharma.
Royalty Pharma has been the subject of multiple research reports recently. On Friday, May 26th, StockNews.com upgraded their rating on Royalty Pharma’s shares from “hold” to “buy”. Meanwhile, UBS Group lowered their target price on the same stock from $51.00 to $48.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company last February 16th; Tigress Financial increased their target price on Royalty Pharma shares from $57.00 to $60.00 and gave it a “buy” rating last April 6th; and Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Royalty Pharma’s stocks from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave it an “overweight” rating last April 10th.
Finally, TheStreet downgraded Royalty Pharma shares from “c-” to “d+” in a research report released back on February 21st this year.
Currently, there are five equities research analysts covering Royalty Pharma and all have rated it as a “buy”. Based on data obtained from Bloomberg earlier today, the stock presently holds an average rating of “Buy” amongst market watchers with an average target price standing at around $54.00.
Shares of Royalty Pharma opened today at $32.81 per share–a figure that is well within its annual trading range between its lowest traded value over the past year ($32.02) and its highest traded value for the same period ($44.66). As of today, the company has a market capitalization worth $19.92 billion and prices for its products hold a price-to-earnings ratio (P/E ratio) of 59.65 as of this writing. In addition, its price to earnings growth (PEG) ratio is currently sitting at 0.90 with a beta figure of 0.42–benchmarks that demonstrate Royalty Pharma’s stock’s ability to perform well over a long-term basis.
The company presently holds a current ratio of 2.36 and a quick ratio of 2.36, both figures indicating that it has adequate liquidity to handle any short-term debt obligations or cash shortages it may face if and when they arise in the future.
Investors are keeping an eye on Royalty Pharma’s latest activities given their promising prospects for innovation in the biopharmaceutical space–developments that will undoubtedly attract more attention from market watchers as well as investors over time.
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Institutional Investors Show Interest in Royalty Pharma as Insiders Sell Shares
Royalty Pharma plc (NASDAQ:RPRX), a biopharmaceutical company, has recently been attracting the attention of institutional investors with significant stakes in the company. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its position by 6.9% during the fourth quarter and now holds over 2.5 million shares of Royalty Pharma stock worth nearly $99 million. Amundi and Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership also increased their holdings during the same period. Engineers Gate Manager LP bought a new position valued at around $3 million, while ASB Consultores LLC grew its position by 38.7%. In total, institutional investors now own over 55% of the company’s stock.
However, some insiders have recently sold shares of RPRX stock. On March 28th, EVP George W. Lloyd sold 100,000 shares at an average price of $37.06 per share for a total value of $3,706,000. Following this sale, Lloyd still owns 225,000 shares valued at over $8 million. Director Rory B. Riggs also sold just under 10,000 shares on March 29th for over $360,000.
Despite these insider sales, analysts remain bullish on Royalty Pharma’s prospects with five equities research analysts giving it a buy rating and an average target price of $54 per share according to data from Bloomberg. In its most recent earnings report released in May, the company saw revenue exceed expectations with EPS at $1.60 for the quarter compared to a consensus estimate of $1.32.
Investors can also look forward to dividends being paid out by Royalty Pharma this month as it issued a quarterly dividend last month worth $0.20 per share yielding around 2.44%. As Royalty Pharma continues to grow with notable support from institutional investors and positive financial reports being released this year already, it could be seen as a strong addition to an investment portfolio.