California State Teachers Retirement System Increases Holdings in Royalty Pharma PLC $RPRX

Key Points

• California State Teachers Retirement System increased its Royalty Pharma stake by 5,065% in the second quarter, acquiring 38.4 million additional shares. It now owns 39.2 million shares, or approximately 6.82% of the company, valued at $2.2 billion.
• Analysts remain bullish on Royalty Pharma, with eight analysts assigning Buy ratings and a consensus price target of $61.29. The company recently exceeded quarterly earnings expectations, reporting $1.32 in EPS versus the $1.27 consensus estimate, although revenue came in below forecasts.
• Royalty Pharma shares opened at $58.61, while insiders have sold 398,197 shares worth about $22.5 million over the past three months. The company also maintains a quarterly dividend of $0.235, equivalent to a 1.6% annualized yield.

California State Teachers Retirement System lifted its position in Royalty Pharma PLC (NASDAQ:RPRX - Free Report) by 5,065.0% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 39,204,424 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock after buying an additional 38,445,382 shares during the period. California State Teachers Retirement System owned approximately 6.82% of Royalty Pharma worth $2,198,192,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of RPRX. LM Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Royalty Pharma in the fourth quarter worth approximately $26,000. Blue Trust Inc. raised its stake in shares of Royalty Pharma by 173.4% in the first quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 689 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $33,000 after buying an additional 437 shares during the period. Lloyd Advisory Services LLC. purchased a new position in shares of Royalty Pharma during the 4th quarter valued at about $30,000. CoreCap Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Royalty Pharma by 89.2% during the 2nd quarter. CoreCap Advisors LLC now owns 876 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock valued at $49,000 after buying an additional 413 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bessemer Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Royalty Pharma by 34.7% during the 1st quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 1,094 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock valued at $53,000 after acquiring an additional 282 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 54.35% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the stock. Weiss Ratings restated a "buy (b-)" rating on shares of Royalty Pharma in a research note on Wednesday, August 12th. Morgan Stanley reiterated an "overweight" rating and issued a $65.00 price target on shares of Royalty Pharma in a research report on Thursday, August 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Royalty Pharma from $58.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, August 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a "buy" rating and set a $66.00 target price on shares of Royalty Pharma in a research note on Thursday, August 6th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Royalty Pharma from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Saturday. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $61.29.

Insider Buying and Selling at Royalty Pharma

In related news, EVP Christopher Hite sold 100,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $59.97, for a total transaction of $5,997,000.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 370,401 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,212,947.97. This represents a 21.26% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, EVP Marshall Urist sold 9,099 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.88, for a total transaction of $508,452.12. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last three months, insiders sold 398,197 shares of company stock worth $22,513,280. Insiders own 18.84% of the company's stock.

Royalty Pharma Stock Down 0.2%

Shares of NASDAQ RPRX opened at $58.61 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 2.80, a quick ratio of 2.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.88. Royalty Pharma PLC has a 12-month low of $34.63 and a 12-month high of $64.38. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $59.33 and its 200-day moving average price is $53.62. The stock has a market capitalization of $33.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.42, a P/E/G ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 0.44.

Royalty Pharma (NASDAQ:RPRX - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 5th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $1.32 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.27 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $674.14 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $758.93 million. Royalty Pharma had a return on equity of 30.01% and a net margin of 32.14%. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Royalty Pharma PLC will post 5.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Royalty Pharma Dividend Announcement

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

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.

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