United Therapeutics (NASDAQ:UTHR) Lowered to Buy Rating by StockNews.com

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

A number of other brokerages also recently weighed in on UTHR. HC Wainwright reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $425.00 target price on shares of United Therapeutics in a research note on Thursday. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on shares of United Therapeutics from $243.00 to $302.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Argus raised their target price on shares of United Therapeutics from $360.00 to $400.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of United Therapeutics from $415.00 to $475.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, Oppenheimer raised their target price on shares of United Therapeutics from $575.00 to $600.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $388.25.

United Therapeutics Trading Up 1.5 %

Shares of United Therapeutics stock opened at $323.62 on Thursday. United Therapeutics has a 12-month low of $221.53 and a 12-month high of $417.82. The company has a market cap of $14.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.21, a PEG ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 0.57. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $360.44 and its 200-day moving average price is $360.55.

United Therapeutics (NASDAQ:UTHR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 26th. The biotechnology company reported $6.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.10 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $735.90 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $734.74 million. United Therapeutics had a net margin of 40.31% and a return on equity of 19.22%. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $4.36 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that United Therapeutics will post 24.48 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at United Therapeutics

In other news, Director Louis W. Sullivan sold 26,209 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $373.22, for a total value of $9,781,722.98. Following the transaction, the director now owns 5,051 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,885,134.22. This trade represents a 83.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, COO Michael Benkowitz sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $348.06, for a total transaction of $3,480,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 2,577 shares in the company, valued at $896,950.62. This represents a 79.51 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 124,164 shares of company stock worth $45,278,893. Insiders own 11.90% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in UTHR. Signaturefd LLC boosted its holdings in United Therapeutics by 4.7% in the fourth quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 663 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $234,000 after acquiring an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in United Therapeutics by 2.8% in the fourth quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 1,090 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $385,000 after acquiring an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in United Therapeutics by 12.0% in the fourth quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC now owns 280 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $99,000 after acquiring an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. Great Lakes Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in United Therapeutics by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. Great Lakes Advisors LLC now owns 1,974 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $697,000 after acquiring an additional 31 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund boosted its holdings in United Therapeutics by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund now owns 9,108 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $3,214,000 after acquiring an additional 33 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors 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.