State of Michigan Retirement System Boosts Stock Holdings in Royalty Pharma plc (NASDAQ:RPRX)

State of Michigan Retirement System boosted its stake in shares of Royalty Pharma plc (NASDAQ:RPRX) by 16.2% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 19,400 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after buying an additional 2,700 shares during the period. State of Michigan Retirement System’s holdings in Royalty Pharma were worth $495,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of RPRX. Swedbank AB grew its stake in Royalty Pharma by 2.0% during the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 11,027,370 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $311,964,000 after acquiring an additional 213,900 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its stake in Royalty Pharma by 171.1% during the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 101,500 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $2,777,000 after acquiring an additional 64,057 shares in the last quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. grew its stake in Royalty Pharma by 4.2% during the third quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 148,356 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $4,197,000 after acquiring an additional 5,942 shares in the last quarter. Summit Global Investments purchased a new position in Royalty Pharma during the third quarter valued at $735,000. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. grew its stake in Royalty Pharma by 1.6% during the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 1,009,541 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $28,560,000 after acquiring an additional 15,963 shares in the last quarter. 54.35% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Royalty Pharma Price Performance

RPRX stock opened at $33.01 on Monday. Royalty Pharma plc has a 12 month low of $24.05 and a 12 month high of $34.20. The company has a current ratio of 1.44, a quick ratio of 1.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $30.87 and a 200 day moving average price of $28.41. The stock has a market cap of $19.03 billion, a PE ratio of 22.77, a P/E/G ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 0.47.

Royalty Pharma (NASDAQ:RPRX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $1.15 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.99 by $0.16. Royalty Pharma had a net margin of 37.94% and a return on equity of 24.40%. Equities research analysts anticipate that Royalty Pharma plc will post 4.49 earnings per share for the current year.

Royalty Pharma Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 10th. Investors of record on Friday, February 21st will be paid a dividend of $0.22 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 21st. This is a boost from Royalty Pharma’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.67%. Royalty Pharma’s payout ratio is currently 60.69%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, TD Cowen raised shares of Royalty Pharma to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 24th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $41.60.

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.