USS Investment Management Ltd Boosts Position in Royalty Pharma PLC $RPRX

Key Points

• USS Investment Management Ltd increased its stake in Royalty Pharma by 21.2% in the first quarter, adding 21,417 shares to bring its total holding to 122,359 shares worth about $5.87 million.
• Several other institutional investors also boosted positions in RPRX, and hedge funds and other institutions now own 54.35% of the company’s stock.
• Royalty Pharma insiders have been selling shares recently, including CFO Terrance P. Coyne and EVP Marshall Urist, while analysts still broadly rate the stock a Buy with a consensus price target of $53.71.

USS Investment Management Ltd increased its position in shares of Royalty Pharma PLC (NASDAQ:RPRX - Free Report) by 21.2% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 122,359 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock after acquiring an additional 21,417 shares during the quarter. USS Investment Management Ltd's holdings in Royalty Pharma were worth $5,870,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of RPRX. Morgan Stanley increased its position in Royalty Pharma by 25.2% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 55,274,069 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $2,135,790,000 after purchasing an additional 11,110,115 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors boosted its holdings in Royalty Pharma by 14.3% in the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 31,104,309 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock valued at $1,201,870,000 after purchasing an additional 3,891,615 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in Royalty Pharma by 3.7% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 10,649,641 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock valued at $411,502,000 after purchasing an additional 376,888 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Royalty Pharma by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,719,843 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock valued at $297,465,000 after buying an additional 102,430 shares during the period. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Royalty Pharma by 9.7% in the 4th quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 5,106,905 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock valued at $197,331,000 after buying an additional 449,498 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 54.35% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at Royalty Pharma

In other Royalty Pharma news, CFO Terrance P. Coyne sold 64,399 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $53.98, for a total transaction of $3,476,258.02. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, EVP Marshall Urist sold 13,684 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $53.06, for a total value of $726,073.04. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 31,881 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,691,605.86. This represents a 30.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold 427,800 shares of company stock valued at $23,333,723 over the last three months. 18.84% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

RPRX has been the topic of several analyst reports. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Royalty Pharma from $61.00 to $63.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, April 10th. Weiss Ratings lowered Royalty Pharma from a "buy (b)" rating to a "buy (b-)" rating in a research report on Friday, May 15th. Wall Street Zen raised Royalty Pharma from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Saturday, May 9th. Citigroup raised their target price on Royalty Pharma from $50.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their target price on Royalty Pharma from $51.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $53.71.

Royalty Pharma Price Performance

Shares of RPRX opened at $57.77 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $53.40 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $47.16. The stock has a market cap of $33.27 billion, a PE ratio of 39.30, a P/E/G ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 0.43. Royalty Pharma PLC has a 1-year low of $34.08 and a 1-year high of $57.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 2.66 and a quick ratio of 2.66.

Royalty Pharma (NASDAQ:RPRX - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 6th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $1.30 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.22 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $630.58 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $881.69 million. Royalty Pharma had a net margin of 33.88% and a return on equity of 29.25%. As a group, analysts forecast that Royalty Pharma PLC will post 5.05 EPS for the current year.

Royalty Pharma Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 15th were given a $0.235 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 15th. This represents a $0.94 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.6%. Royalty Pharma's payout ratio is presently 63.95%.

Royalty Pharma Profile

Royalty Pharma plc is a specialty finance company that acquires biopharmaceutical royalty interests and provides non-dilutive financing to drug developers and rights holders. The firm purchases future royalty streams, milestone-contingent payments and other revenue rights linked to approved and late-stage pharmaceutical and biotechnology products. By paying upfront consideration for these rights, Royalty Pharma seeks to generate long-term cash flows tied to the commercial performance of a diversified portfolio of medicines.

The company's transaction structures include outright royalty purchases, structured financings and milestone arrangements tailored to the needs of innovator companies, academic institutions and investors.

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