Royalty Pharma plc (NASDAQ:RPRX) Plans Quarterly Dividend of $0.21

Royalty Pharma plc (NASDAQ:RPRX - Get Free Report) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, April 17th, Zacks reports. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 17th will be paid a dividend of 0.21 per share by the biopharmaceutical company on Friday, June 14th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.01%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 16th.

Royalty Pharma has raised its dividend by an average of 38.7% per year over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 4 consecutive years. Royalty Pharma has a payout ratio of 18.3% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Royalty Pharma to earn $4.32 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.80 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 18.5%.

Royalty Pharma Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ RPRX traded up $0.28 on Thursday, hitting $27.89. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,091,901 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,660,169. Royalty Pharma has a 12-month low of $25.92 and a 12-month high of $36.48. The company has a market capitalization of $16.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.78 and a beta of 0.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 7.90 and a quick ratio of 7.90. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $29.79 and a 200-day moving average of $28.50.

Royalty Pharma (NASDAQ:RPRX - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $1.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.03 by $0.12. Royalty Pharma had a net margin of 48.22% and a return on equity of 26.93%. The company had revenue of $736.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $702.90 million. As a group, research analysts predict that Royalty Pharma will post 3.95 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Royalty Pharma

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Captrust Financial Advisors boosted its stake in shares of Royalty Pharma by 210.8% in the second quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 805 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 546 shares during the period. Acadian Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Royalty Pharma in the first quarter valued at $113,000. Ossiam boosted its stake in shares of Royalty Pharma by 22.3% in the first quarter. Ossiam now owns 3,661 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock valued at $132,000 after purchasing an additional 668 shares during the period. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Royalty Pharma by 54.5% in the first quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 3,423 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock valued at $133,000 after purchasing an additional 1,208 shares during the period. Finally, Advisor Group Holdings Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Royalty Pharma by 9.4% in the first quarter. Advisor Group Holdings Inc. now owns 4,265 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock valued at $151,000 after purchasing an additional 366 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 54.35% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

RPRX has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of Royalty Pharma from $45.00 to $42.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, February 20th. Bank of America cut their price objective on shares of Royalty Pharma from $40.00 to $38.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price objective on shares of Royalty Pharma from $56.00 to $50.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, February 20th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Royalty Pharma from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat, Royalty Pharma has an average rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $46.75.

Royalty Pharma Company Profile

Royalty Pharma plc operates as a buyer of biopharmaceutical royalties and a funder of innovations in the biopharmaceutical industry in the United States. It is also involved in the identification, evaluation, and acquisition of royalties on various biopharmaceutical therapies. In addition, the company collaborates with innovators from academic institutions, research hospitals and not-for-profits, small and mid-cap biotechnology companies, and pharmaceutical companies.