Meeder Advisory Services Inc. Buys New Position in Royalty Pharma plc (NASDAQ:RPRX)

Meeder Advisory Services Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Royalty Pharma plc (NASDAQ:RPRX) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 7,482 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock, valued at approximately $210,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. M&T Bank Corp boosted its holdings in Royalty Pharma by 2.5% during the 3rd quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 10,671 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $428,000 after acquiring an additional 259 shares during the period. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Royalty Pharma by 7.3% in the 2nd quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 4,973 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $153,000 after buying an additional 337 shares during the period. Advisor Group Holdings Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Royalty Pharma by 9.4% in the 1st quarter. Advisor Group Holdings Inc. now owns 4,265 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $151,000 after buying an additional 366 shares during the period. Sei Investments Co. boosted its stake in shares of Royalty Pharma by 4.7% in the 1st quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 8,392 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $281,000 after buying an additional 379 shares during the period. Finally, Virtu Financial LLC boosted its stake in shares of Royalty Pharma by 5.8% in the 4th quarter. Virtu Financial LLC now owns 7,604 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $300,000 after buying an additional 417 shares during the period. 54.35% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on RPRX shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on Royalty Pharma from $45.00 to $42.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 20th. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price objective on Royalty Pharma from $56.00 to $50.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 20th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Royalty Pharma from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $49.67.

Royalty Pharma Price Performance

RPRX stock opened at $29.45 on Thursday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $29.88 and a 200 day moving average price of $28.46. The stock has a market cap of $17.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.58, a PEG ratio of 0.84 and a beta of 0.45. Royalty Pharma plc has a fifty-two week low of $25.92 and a fifty-two week high of $36.74. The company has a quick ratio of 7.90, a current ratio of 7.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61.

Royalty Pharma (NASDAQ:RPRX) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $1.15 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.03 by $0.12. The firm had revenue of $736.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $702.90 million. Royalty Pharma had a return on equity of 26.93% and a net margin of 48.22%. Equities research analysts anticipate that Royalty Pharma plc will post 3.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Royalty Pharma Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Investors of record on Friday, February 16th were paid a dividend of $0.21 per share. This is a boost from Royalty Pharma’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 15th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.85%. Royalty Pharma’s payout ratio is presently 44.44%.

About Royalty Pharma

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.