Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:REGN) Receives Consensus Recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from Analysts

Key Points

• Consensus "Moderate Buy": 26 analysts rate REGN a Moderate Buy (15 buy, 9 hold, 2 strong buy) with an average 1‑year target of $802.27, and several firms recently raised targets — e.g., Canaccord to $1,057 and Guggenheim to $975.
• Quarterly results topped expectations with EPS of $11.44 (vs. $10.74 est.) and revenue of $3.88B (vs. $3.76B est.), a 2.5% year‑over‑year revenue increase; analysts project roughly 35.92 EPS for the fiscal year.
• Shareholder returns and ownership: Regeneron raised its quarterly dividend to $0.94 ($3.76 annualized, ~0.5% yield), insiders sold shares during the quarter, and institutional investors hold about 83.31% of the stock.

Shares of Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:REGN - Get Free Report) have received an average rating of "Moderate Buy" from the twenty-six analysts that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, fifteen have assigned a buy recommendation and two have assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year target price among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $802.2727.

A number of research firms have recently commented on REGN. Canaccord Genuity Group upped their target price on Regeneron Pharmaceuticals from $850.00 to $1,057.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, December 4th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on shares of Regeneron Pharmaceuticals from $725.00 to $850.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, December 4th. Guggenheim boosted their price target on shares of Regeneron Pharmaceuticals from $865.00 to $975.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, February 9th. Scotiabank upped their price objective on shares of Regeneron Pharmaceuticals from $650.00 to $770.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Monday, November 24th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Regeneron Pharmaceuticals from $745.00 to $800.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Monday, February 2nd.

Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Price Performance

NASDAQ:REGN opened at $745.77 on Friday. Regeneron Pharmaceuticals has a 52 week low of $476.49 and a 52 week high of $821.11. The company has a quick ratio of 3.39, a current ratio of 4.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09. The stock has a market capitalization of $78.84 billion, a PE ratio of 17.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.01 and a beta of 0.41. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $769.73 and its 200-day moving average price is $694.17.

Regeneron Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:REGN - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 30th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $11.44 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $10.74 by $0.70. Regeneron Pharmaceuticals had a return on equity of 13.04% and a net margin of 31.41%.The company had revenue of $3.88 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.76 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $12.07 EPS. Regeneron Pharmaceuticals's quarterly revenue was up 2.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that Regeneron Pharmaceuticals will post 35.92 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 5th. Investors of record on Friday, February 20th were paid a $0.94 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 20th. This represents a $3.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.5%. This is a boost from Regeneron Pharmaceuticals's previous quarterly dividend of $0.88. Regeneron Pharmaceuticals's dividend payout ratio is 9.05%.

Insider Transactions at Regeneron Pharmaceuticals

In related news, Director Arthur F. Ryan sold 100 shares of Regeneron Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $778.53, for a total value of $77,853.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 17,803 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,860,169.59. The trade was a 0.56% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Huda Y. Zoghbi sold 1,638 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $781.33, for a total value of $1,279,818.54. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 1,703 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,330,604.99. The trade was a 49.03% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 5,274 shares of company stock valued at $4,142,738. 7.02% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in REGN. Dodge & Cox grew its holdings in shares of Regeneron Pharmaceuticals by 64.6% during the second quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 3,826,283 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $2,008,799,000 after buying an additional 1,502,198 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Regeneron Pharmaceuticals in the fourth quarter worth about $1,012,296,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its stake in shares of Regeneron Pharmaceuticals by 142.2% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 1,949,797 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $1,504,991,000 after buying an additional 1,144,887 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC boosted its position in Regeneron Pharmaceuticals by 71.1% during the fourth quarter. Nuveen LLC now owns 2,010,517 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $1,551,858,000 after acquiring an additional 835,240 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in Regeneron Pharmaceuticals by 8,620.0% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 664,465 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $512,881,000 after acquiring an additional 656,845 shares during the last quarter. 83.31% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Company 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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