World Investment Advisors Sells 48,485 Shares of Royalty Pharma PLC $RPRX

Key Points

• World Investment Advisors cut its Royalty Pharma stake by 83% in the first quarter, selling 48,485 shares and ending with 9,949 shares worth about $477,000.
• Analysts remain broadly positive on RPRX, with several firms raising price targets and MarketBeat showing an average rating of Buy and an average target price of $53.71.
• Royalty Pharma reported Q1 EPS of $1.30, beating expectations, while the stock traded near $56.43; the company also paid a quarterly dividend of $0.235 per share, or $0.94 annually.

World Investment Advisors lessened its holdings in shares of Royalty Pharma PLC (NASDAQ:RPRX - Free Report) by 83.0% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 9,949 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock after selling 48,485 shares during the quarter. World Investment Advisors' holdings in Royalty Pharma were worth $477,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. LM Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Royalty Pharma in the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its holdings in Royalty Pharma by 173.4% during the 1st quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 689 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 437 shares during the last quarter. Lloyd Advisory Services LLC. bought a new position in Royalty Pharma during the fourth quarter worth $30,000. Private Trust Co. NA increased its holdings in shares of Royalty Pharma by 52.9% in the fourth quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 832 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 288 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Royalty Pharma by 66.4% in the fourth quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 1,118 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock valued at $43,000 after purchasing an additional 446 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 54.35% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Royalty Pharma from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Saturday, May 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Royalty Pharma from $50.00 to $58.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Citigroup increased their price target on shares of Royalty Pharma from $50.00 to $66.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 7th. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Royalty Pharma from $51.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Royalty Pharma from $61.00 to $63.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, April 10th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $53.71.

Royalty Pharma Stock Performance

Shares of RPRX traded down $1.53 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $56.43. 2,518,723 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,280,736. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $54.35 and its 200 day simple moving average is $47.90. The company has a market cap of $32.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.39, a PEG ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 0.43. Royalty Pharma PLC has a twelve month low of $34.08 and a twelve month high of $58.84. The company has a quick ratio of 2.66, a current ratio of 2.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86.

Royalty Pharma (NASDAQ:RPRX - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $1.30 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.22 by $0.08. Royalty Pharma had a net margin of 33.88% and a return on equity of 29.25%. The business had revenue of $630.58 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $881.69 million. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Royalty Pharma PLC will post 5.06 earnings per share for the current year.

Royalty Pharma Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 15th were given a dividend of $0.235 per share. This represents a $0.94 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.7%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 15th. Royalty Pharma's dividend payout ratio is presently 63.95%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Royalty Pharma

In other news, EVP Christopher Hite sold 150,000 shares of Royalty Pharma stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $54.40, for a total value of $8,160,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 559,399 shares in the company, valued at approximately $30,431,305.60. The trade was a 21.14% 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. Also, EVP Marshall Urist sold 13,684 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $53.06, for a total value of $726,073.04. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 31,881 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,691,605.86. This trade 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 sold a total of 427,800 shares of company stock valued at $23,333,723 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 18.84% of the company's stock.

Royalty Pharma Company 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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