Jefferies Financial Group Inc. Purchases Shares of 3,514,833 Roivant Sciences Ltd. $ROIV

Key Points

• Jefferies Financial Group disclosed a new fourth-quarter stake in Roivant Sciences, buying 3,514,833 shares valued at about $76.3 million. The position makes Roivant its 26th-largest holding and about 0.4% of its portfolio.
• Institutional ownership remains heavy, with funds like Vanguard, UBS, and Assenagon also adding shares; overall, institutional investors and hedge funds own about 64.76% of Roivant.
• Analysts are mostly bullish on ROIV, with several firms raising price targets to the low-to-mid $40s and the stock carrying a Moderate Buy consensus. Separately, insiders have been selling shares recently, including CEO transactions disclosed in the article.

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. purchased a new stake in Roivant Sciences Ltd. (NASDAQ:ROIV - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 3,514,833 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $76,272,000. Roivant Sciences comprises approximately 0.4% of Jefferies Financial Group Inc.'s portfolio, making the stock its 26th biggest position. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. owned 0.51% of Roivant Sciences as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of ROIV. UBS Group AG lifted its holdings in Roivant Sciences by 570.0% in the 4th quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 18,390,792 shares of the company's stock valued at $399,080,000 after acquiring an additional 15,645,836 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its holdings in Roivant Sciences by 11,507.5% in the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 6,937,112 shares of the company's stock valued at $150,535,000 after acquiring an additional 6,877,348 shares during the last quarter. Perceptive Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Roivant Sciences in the 2nd quarter valued at about $37,546,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Roivant Sciences by 8.4% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 42,059,041 shares of the company's stock valued at $912,681,000 after acquiring an additional 3,254,113 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP lifted its holdings in Roivant Sciences by 316.5% in the 3rd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 3,978,001 shares of the company's stock valued at $60,187,000 after acquiring an additional 3,022,851 shares during the last quarter. 64.76% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Leerink Partners set a $42.00 price target on shares of Roivant Sciences in a report on Thursday. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Roivant Sciences from $35.00 to $42.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday. TD Cowen upped their price objective on shares of Roivant Sciences from $38.00 to $41.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday. Guggenheim upped their price objective on shares of Roivant Sciences from $28.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, February 9th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Roivant Sciences in a research note on Tuesday, March 3rd. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $33.05.

Insider Activity at Roivant Sciences

In other Roivant Sciences news, CEO Matthew Gline sold 289,774 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.16, for a total transaction of $8,449,809.84. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 16,736,116 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $488,025,142.56. This represents a 1.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Eric Venker sold 200,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $30.27, for a total value of $6,054,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 1,613,063 shares in the company, valued at $48,827,417.01. This represents a 11.03% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 1,532,563 shares of company stock valued at $43,813,555. Corporate insiders own 10.80% of the company's stock.

Roivant Sciences Trading Down 3.0%

ROIV stock opened at $29.96 on Friday. Roivant Sciences Ltd. has a one year low of $10.59 and a one year high of $32.79. The firm has a market capitalization of $21.44 billion, a PE ratio of -49.93 and a beta of 1.14. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $28.46 and a two-hundred day moving average of $25.06.

Roivant Sciences (NASDAQ:ROIV - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 20th. The company reported $0.28 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.29) by $0.57. Roivant Sciences had a negative net margin of 3,629.19% and a negative return on equity of 20.54%. The company had revenue of $2.52 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.41 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned ($0.29) earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Roivant Sciences Ltd. will post -1.06 earnings per share for the current year.

About Roivant Sciences

Roivant Sciences is a biopharmaceutical company focused on the development and commercialization of innovative therapies through a network of subsidiary businesses known as “Vants.” Founded in 2014, Roivant acquires or in-licenses clinical-stage assets that have progressed beyond proof of concept and seeks to advance them efficiently toward regulatory approval. By organizing each program into a dedicated subsidiary, the company aims to streamline decision-making, allocate resources more effectively, and accelerate development timelines.

The core activities of Roivant involve identifying promising drug candidates across a range of therapeutic areas, including neurology, rare diseases, immunology, oncology, and women's health.

Want to see what other hedge funds are holding ROIV? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Roivant Sciences Ltd. (NASDAQ:ROIV - Free Report).

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.