Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc. $REGN Shares Acquired by Westpac Banking Corp

Key Points

• Westpac Banking Corp boosted its Regeneron stake by 745.2% in the fourth quarter, buying 6,073 additional shares and bringing its total to 6,888 shares valued at about $5.3 million.
• Regeneron reported strong quarterly results, with earnings of $9.47 per share versus expectations of $8.91 and revenue of $3.61 billion, up 19% year over year.
• Analysts have become more cautious overall, with several firms cutting price targets; the stock now has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $792.65.

Westpac Banking Corp lifted its stake in shares of Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:REGN - Free Report) by 745.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 6,888 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock after buying an additional 6,073 shares during the period. Westpac Banking Corp's holdings in Regeneron Pharmaceuticals were worth $5,317,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Regeneron Pharmaceuticals by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 9,075,153 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $7,004,838,000 after buying an additional 26,884 shares during the period. Dodge & Cox lifted its stake in shares of Regeneron Pharmaceuticals by 18.9% during the third quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 4,550,845 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $2,558,804,000 after buying an additional 724,562 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Regeneron Pharmaceuticals by 6.0% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 2,453,143 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $1,379,329,000 after buying an additional 139,647 shares during the period. Capital World Investors lifted its stake in shares of Regeneron Pharmaceuticals by 1.6% during the third quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 1,998,366 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $1,123,609,000 after buying an additional 32,348 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Regeneron Pharmaceuticals by 38.0% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,484,473 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $834,675,000 after buying an additional 408,649 shares during the period. 83.31% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Regeneron Pharmaceuticals news, Director Arthur F. Ryan sold 100 shares of Regeneron Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction on Friday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $705.24, for a total value of $70,524.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 17,503 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $12,343,815.72. The trade was a 0.57% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders own 6.97% of the company's stock.

Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Stock Up 0.4%

REGN opened at $602.92 on Wednesday. Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $476.49 and a fifty-two week high of $821.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a quick ratio of 2.96 and a current ratio of 3.57. The company has a fifty day moving average of $716.42 and a two-hundred day moving average of $744.46. The stock has a market capitalization of $63.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.69, a PEG ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 0.25.

Regeneron Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:REGN - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $9.47 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $8.91 by $0.56. Regeneron Pharmaceuticals had a net margin of 29.65% and a return on equity of 13.16%. The company had revenue of $3.61 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.48 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $8.22 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 19.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post 37.25 earnings per share for the current year.

Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Dividend Announcement

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently issued reports on REGN shares. Citigroup cut shares of Regeneron Pharmaceuticals from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $900.00 to $700.00 in a report on Monday, May 18th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Regeneron Pharmaceuticals from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Saturday, May 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on shares of Regeneron Pharmaceuticals from $950.00 to $850.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Monday, May 18th. Canaccord Genuity Group reduced their target price on shares of Regeneron Pharmaceuticals from $1,057.00 to $875.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, May 19th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reduced their target price on shares of Regeneron Pharmaceuticals from $900.00 to $730.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Monday, May 18th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $792.65.

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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