uniQure (NASDAQ:QURE) Reaches New 12-Month High After Analyst Upgrade

uniQure (NASDAQ:QURE) hit a new 52-week high during trading on Tuesday after Raymond James upgraded the stock from an outperform rating to a strong-buy rating. Raymond James now has a $52.00 price target on the stock, up from their previous price target of $20.00. uniQure traded as high as $17.39 and last traded at $15.30, with a volume of 61370594 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $7.30.

A number of other research firms also recently weighed in on QURE. StockNews.com raised uniQure to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Cantor Fitzgerald lifted their price objective on uniQure from $28.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday. Royal Bank of Canada cut their target price on uniQure from $16.00 to $14.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. HC Wainwright reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $25.00 price target on shares of uniQure in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price objective on shares of uniQure from $10.00 to $9.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $27.33.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Matthew C. Kapusta sold 3,418 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $7.63, for a total value of $26,079.34. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 597,915 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,562,091.45. This trade represents a 0.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 4.74% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On uniQure

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of uniQure by 11.4% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,072,536 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $5,577,000 after purchasing an additional 109,740 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC bought a new position in uniQure in the 2nd quarter valued at $79,000. Clear Harbor Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of uniQure by 35.2% in the 2nd quarter. Clear Harbor Asset Management LLC now owns 48,000 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $215,000 after buying an additional 12,500 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. bought a new stake in shares of uniQure during the second quarter worth $815,000. Finally, Privium Fund Management B.V. lifted its stake in shares of uniQure by 10.6% during the second quarter. Privium Fund Management B.V. now owns 640,416 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $2,869,000 after acquiring an additional 61,501 shares during the period. 78.83% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

uniQure Stock Performance

The firm has a fifty day moving average of $6.42 and a 200-day moving average of $6.15. The company has a quick ratio of 6.51, a current ratio of 6.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92. The firm has a market cap of $745.72 million, a P/E ratio of -3.08 and a beta of 0.89.

uniQure (NASDAQ:QURE) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.91) EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($1.12) by $0.21. uniQure had a negative net margin of 837.80% and a negative return on equity of 188.82%. The company had revenue of $2.29 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.73 million. Research analysts predict that uniQure will post -3.74 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

About uniQure

uniQure N.V. develops treatments for patients suffering from rare and other devastating diseases. It offers HEMGENIX that has completed Phase III HOPE-B pivotal trial for the treatment of hemophilia B. The company also develops AMT-130, a gene therapy that is in Phase I/II clinical study for the treatment of Huntington's disease.