North Dakota State Investment Board Acquires Shares of 3,579 Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc. $REGN

Key Points

• North Dakota State Investment Board initiated a new position in Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, buying 3,579 shares valued at about $2.76 million in the fourth quarter.
• Regeneron’s stock fell 9.8% after its Phase 3 melanoma trial failed to meet its main endpoint, raising concerns about a key cancer pipeline candidate and prompting analyst price-target cuts.
• The company still delivered strong recent fundamentals, reporting Q1 EPS of $9.47 and revenue of $3.61 billion, both ahead of expectations, while also declaring a $0.94 quarterly dividend.

North Dakota State Investment Board bought a new stake in shares of Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:REGN - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 3,579 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock, valued at approximately $2,763,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of REGN. WPG Advisers LLC grew its stake in shares of Regeneron Pharmaceuticals by 312.5% during the fourth quarter. WPG Advisers LLC now owns 33 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. Board of the Pension Protection Fund bought a new position in shares of Regeneron Pharmaceuticals during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Caitlin John LLC bought a new position in shares of Regeneron Pharmaceuticals during the third quarter valued at approximately $34,000. FNY Investment Advisers LLC bought a new position in shares of Regeneron Pharmaceuticals during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Finally, Torren Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Regeneron Pharmaceuticals during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Institutional investors own 83.31% of the company's stock.

Key Stories Impacting Regeneron Pharmaceuticals

Here are the key news stories impacting Regeneron Pharmaceuticals this week:

• Negative Sentiment: Regeneron’s Phase 3 melanoma trial did not show statistically significant improvement on its main goal, disappointing expectations for a key cancer drug candidate. Reuters article
• Negative Sentiment: The trial failure triggered a wave of analyst caution and multiple price target cuts, reflecting reduced confidence in near-term pipeline upside. Proactive Investors article
• Negative Sentiment: Law firms have started investigating whether Regeneron and its executives made overly optimistic statements about the melanoma program before the disappointing results were disclosed. PR Newswire article
• Neutral Sentiment: Regeneron also announced a strategic collaboration with Parabilis Medicines to develop Antibody-Helicon™ Conjugates, which could broaden its pipeline, but the partnership is still early-stage and carries execution risk. GlobeNewswire article

Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Stock Down 9.8%

Shares of NASDAQ:REGN opened at $629.68 on Tuesday. Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a 52-week low of $476.49 and a 52-week high of $821.11. The stock has a market cap of $66.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 0.30. The business's 50 day moving average is $741.98 and its 200 day moving average is $745.92. The company has a quick ratio of 2.96, a current ratio of 3.57 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06.

Regeneron Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:REGN - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $9.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $8.91 by $0.56. Regeneron Pharmaceuticals had a return on equity of 13.16% and a net margin of 29.65%.The company had revenue of $3.61 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.48 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $8.22 earnings per share. Regeneron Pharmaceuticals's revenue was up 19.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post 37.1 EPS for the current year.

Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 4th. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 20th will be paid a $0.94 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 20th. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.6%. Regeneron Pharmaceuticals's dividend payout ratio is 9.16%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently commented on REGN. Citigroup reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and set a $700.00 target price (down from $900.00) on shares of Regeneron Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Monday. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "hold (c)" rating on shares of Regeneron Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Friday, March 27th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on Regeneron Pharmaceuticals from $800.00 to $700.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $865.00 target price (up from $750.00) on shares of Regeneron Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Monday, February 2nd. Finally, Piper Sandler cut their target price on Regeneron Pharmaceuticals from $875.00 to $855.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have issued a Buy rating and ten have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $800.57.

Insider Activity at Regeneron Pharmaceuticals

In related news, Director Huda Y. Zoghbi sold 1,638 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $781.33, for a total value of $1,279,818.54. Following the transaction, the director owned 1,703 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,330,604.99. This represents a 49.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Arthur F. Ryan sold 100 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $705.24, for a total value of $70,524.00. Following the sale, the director owned 17,503 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $12,343,815.72. This represents a 0.57% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 6.97% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Profile

Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc NASDAQ: REGN is a U.S.-based biotechnology company founded in 1988 and headquartered in Tarrytown, New York. It focuses on discovering, developing, manufacturing and commercializing medicines for serious medical conditions. The company combines laboratory research, clinical development and in-house manufacturing to advance a pipeline of biologic therapies across multiple therapeutic areas.

Regeneron is known for its proprietary drug discovery technologies, including its VelocImmune platform, which is used to generate fully human monoclonal antibodies.

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