Royalty Pharma plc (NASDAQ:RPRX) Declares Quarterly Dividend of $0.22

Royalty Pharma plc (NASDAQ:RPRX) declared a quarterly dividend on Friday, January 10th,Wall Street Journal reports. Investors of record on Friday, February 21st will be given a dividend of 0.22 per share by the biopharmaceutical company on Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.98%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 21st. This is a boost from Royalty Pharma’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21.

Royalty Pharma has raised its dividend payment by an average of 7.3% annually over the last three years. Royalty Pharma has a payout ratio of 17.4% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Royalty Pharma to earn $4.31 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.84 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 19.5%.

Royalty Pharma Stock Up 12.6 %

Shares of NASDAQ:RPRX opened at $29.49 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a quick ratio of 1.54 and a current ratio of 1.54. Royalty Pharma has a 52-week low of $24.05 and a 52-week high of $31.66. The company has a market capitalization of $17.38 billion, a PE ratio of 15.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.36 and a beta of 0.47. The company has a fifty day moving average of $25.94 and a 200-day moving average of $27.04.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have commented on RPRX. TD Cowen upgraded Royalty Pharma to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 24th. StockNews.com raised shares of Royalty Pharma from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Finally, Citigroup reduced their price objective on shares of Royalty Pharma from $60.00 to $40.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 25th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $41.67.

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.