Christopher Causey Sells 2,240 Shares of United Therapeutics Co. (NASDAQ:UTHR) Stock

United Therapeutics Co. (NASDAQ:UTHR) Director Christopher Causey sold 2,240 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $259.91, for a total transaction of $582,198.40. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 4,185 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,087,723.35. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink.

United Therapeutics Stock Up 2.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ:UTHR opened at $266.22 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $11.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.59 and a beta of 0.54. United Therapeutics Co. has a 12-month low of $204.44 and a 12-month high of $266.65. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $238.38 and a 200 day moving average price of $229.88. The company has a current ratio of 3.77, a quick ratio of 3.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04.

United Therapeutics (NASDAQ:UTHR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The biotechnology company reported $6.17 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.63 by $0.54. United Therapeutics had a net margin of 42.05% and a return on equity of 18.72%. The business had revenue of $677.70 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $620.31 million. During the same period last year, the business earned $4.86 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 33.7% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that United Therapeutics Co. will post 23.88 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently issued reports on UTHR. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on shares of United Therapeutics from $218.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. Oppenheimer increased their price target on United Therapeutics from $375.00 to $400.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, May 2nd. Leerink Partnrs reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of United Therapeutics in a research note on Monday, February 5th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on United Therapeutics from $309.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 7th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of United Therapeutics from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $308.78.

Institutional Trading of United Therapeutics

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of United Therapeutics by 0.4% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,662,911 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $1,053,212,000 after buying an additional 20,373 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in United Therapeutics by 1.8% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 561,950 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $123,566,000 after acquiring an additional 9,962 shares in the last quarter. LSV Asset Management increased its stake in United Therapeutics by 40.3% during the first quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 529,519 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $121,641,000 after purchasing an additional 152,151 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of United Therapeutics during the fourth quarter worth about $100,519,000. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of United Therapeutics by 2.5% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 319,030 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $70,152,000 after purchasing an additional 7,723 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other 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.