United Therapeutics (NASDAQ:UTHR) Rating Lowered to “Buy” at StockNews.com

StockNews.com lowered shares of United Therapeutics (NASDAQ:UTHR) from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a research note issued to investors on Thursday morning.

Other equities analysts have also issued research reports about the company. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on United Therapeutics from $315.00 to $432.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. Argus upped their target price on shares of United Therapeutics from $360.00 to $400.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. TD Cowen lifted their price target on shares of United Therapeutics from $350.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on shares of United Therapeutics from $243.00 to $302.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Finally, LADENBURG THALM/SH SH raised their price objective on shares of United Therapeutics from $319.00 to $344.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, United Therapeutics currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $370.86.

United Therapeutics Stock Down 0.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ UTHR opened at $359.58 on Thursday. United Therapeutics has a 12-month low of $208.62 and a 12-month high of $417.82. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $371.04 and its 200 day simple moving average is $344.95. The company has a market cap of $16.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 0.54.

United Therapeutics (NASDAQ:UTHR) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The biotechnology company reported $6.39 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.16 by $0.23. United Therapeutics had a net margin of 40.31% and a return on equity of 19.22%. The company had revenue of $748.90 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $722.62 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $5.38 earnings per share. United Therapeutics’s quarterly revenue was up 22.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts expect that United Therapeutics will post 25.22 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other United Therapeutics news, CFO James Edgemond sold 7,792 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $358.62, for a total transaction of $2,794,367.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 4,802 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,722,093.24. This represents a 61.87 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Christopher Causey sold 510 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $376.63, for a total value of $192,081.30. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 3,675 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,384,115.25. This trade represents a 12.19 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 145,549 shares of company stock worth $54,547,253 over the last ninety days. 11.90% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On United Therapeutics

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. LSV Asset Management grew its stake in shares of United Therapeutics by 82.5% during the 2nd quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 966,370 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $307,837,000 after acquiring an additional 436,851 shares in the last quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new position in United Therapeutics during the third quarter worth $139,206,000. FMR LLC grew its position in United Therapeutics by 41.1% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,077,628 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $386,168,000 after purchasing an additional 314,004 shares in the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. increased its stake in United Therapeutics by 56.9% in the 3rd quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 419,957 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $150,492,000 after buying an additional 152,249 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its position in United Therapeutics by 97.7% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 250,719 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $89,532,000 after buying an additional 123,929 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.08% of the company’s stock.

United Therapeutics Company Profile

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.