State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D Sells 9,058 Shares of United Therapeutics Co. (NASDAQ:UTHR)

State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D cut its stake in United Therapeutics Co. (NASDAQ:UTHR) by 34.9% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 16,903 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after selling 9,058 shares during the quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D’s holdings in United Therapeutics were worth $5,384,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank bought a new position in United Therapeutics during the 4th quarter valued at about $100,519,000. LSV Asset Management lifted its stake in shares of United Therapeutics by 82.5% in the 2nd quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 966,370 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $307,837,000 after purchasing an additional 436,851 shares during the period. Swedbank AB bought a new position in shares of United Therapeutics in the 1st quarter worth approximately $97,316,000. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its stake in shares of United Therapeutics by 677.6% in the 1st quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 300,920 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $72,422,000 after purchasing an additional 262,222 shares during the period. Finally, Avidity Partners Management LP bought a new stake in United Therapeutics during the 4th quarter worth approximately $52,158,000. 94.08% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of United Therapeutics from $350.00 to $380.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Morgan Stanley cut shares of United Therapeutics from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $310.00 to $321.00 in a research report on Thursday, July 11th. StockNews.com cut shares of United Therapeutics from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Bank of America lowered their target price on shares of United Therapeutics from $303.00 to $280.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, TD Cowen upped their price objective on shares of United Therapeutics from $270.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 11th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $350.36.

United Therapeutics Stock Up 1.7 %

Shares of NASDAQ:UTHR opened at $344.98 on Tuesday. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $337.29 and a 200 day moving average price of $288.79. The company has a current ratio of 4.35, a quick ratio of 4.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02. The company has a market capitalization of $15.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.31, a PEG ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 0.57. United Therapeutics Co. has a 12-month low of $208.62 and a 12-month high of $366.08.

United Therapeutics (NASDAQ:UTHR) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The biotechnology company reported $5.85 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $6.33 by ($0.48). The firm had revenue of $714.90 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $691.87 million. United Therapeutics had a net margin of 40.87% and a return on equity of 18.82%. The business’s revenue was up 19.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $5.24 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that United Therapeutics Co. will post 24.86 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at United Therapeutics

In other news, Director Nilda Mesa sold 266 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $318.58, for a total value of $84,742.28. Following the transaction, the director now owns 5,107 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,626,988.06. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, Director Nilda Mesa sold 266 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $318.58, for a total value of $84,742.28. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 5,107 shares in the company, valued at $1,626,988.06. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Raymond Dwek sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $325.35, for a total value of $1,626,750.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 1,750 shares in the company, valued at $569,362.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 114,522 shares of company stock worth $37,671,474. 12.50% of the stock is owned by insiders.

About United Therapeutics

United Therapeutics Corporation, a biotechnology company, engages in the development and commercialization of products to address the unmet medical needs of patients with chronic and life-threatening diseases in the United States and internationally. The company offers Tyvaso DPI, an inhaled dry powder via pre-filled and single-use cartridges; Tyvaso, an inhaled solution via ultrasonic nebulizer; Remodulin (treprostinil) injection to treat patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) to diminish symptoms associated with exercise; Orenitram, a tablet dosage form of treprostinil, to delay disease progression and improve exercise capacity in PAH patients; and Adcirca, an oral PDE-5 inhibitor to enhance the exercise ability in PAH patients.