Principal Financial Group Inc. Lowers Holdings in Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:REGN)

Principal Financial Group Inc. reduced its stake in Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:REGN - Free Report) by 24.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 130,490 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock after selling 42,602 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned about 0.12% of Regeneron Pharmaceuticals worth $92,952,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in REGN. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Regeneron Pharmaceuticals by 86,013.3% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 880,939 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock valued at $926,078,000 after acquiring an additional 879,916 shares in the last quarter. Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Regeneron Pharmaceuticals during the 3rd quarter valued at about $127,489,000. KBC Group NV increased its stake in Regeneron Pharmaceuticals by 296.7% during the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 136,647 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock valued at $97,338,000 after purchasing an additional 102,198 shares in the last quarter. Icon Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in Regeneron Pharmaceuticals by 18,342.0% during the 3rd quarter. Icon Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 75,981 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock valued at $79,874,000 after purchasing an additional 75,569 shares in the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp raised its holdings in Regeneron Pharmaceuticals by 1.3% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,902,404 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $5,153,603,000 after buying an additional 61,277 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.31% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

REGN has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price target on shares of Regeneron Pharmaceuticals from $1,260.00 to $1,215.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 1st. Bernstein Bank cut their target price on Regeneron Pharmaceuticals from $1,070.00 to $1,000.00 in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Citigroup decreased their price target on Regeneron Pharmaceuticals from $795.00 to $750.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on Regeneron Pharmaceuticals from $1,235.00 to $1,184.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Leerink Partners upgraded Regeneron Pharmaceuticals from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $762.00 to $834.00 in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $973.13.

Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ REGN traded up $4.31 during trading on Friday, hitting $700.33. The company had a trading volume of 727,332 shares, compared to its average volume of 923,518. Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a 12 month low of $642.00 and a 12 month high of $1,211.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a quick ratio of 3.95 and a current ratio of 4.73. The firm has a market capitalization of $76.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 0.08. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $700.02 and a 200 day simple moving average of $886.33.

Regeneron Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:REGN - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $12.07 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $11.21 by $0.86. Regeneron Pharmaceuticals had a net margin of 31.07% and a return on equity of 16.32%. The company had revenue of $3.79 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.76 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $11.86 EPS. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 10.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post 35.92 earnings per share for the current year.

Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 20th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be given a dividend of $0.88 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 20th. This represents a $3.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.50%.

Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Profile

Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc discovers, invents, develops, manufactures, and commercializes medicines for treating various diseases worldwide. The company's products include EYLEA injection to treat wet age-related macular degeneration and diabetic macular edema; myopic choroidal neovascularization; diabetic retinopathy; neovascular glaucoma; and retinopathy of prematurity.