United Therapeutics (NASDAQ:UTHR) Earns Buy Rating from HC Wainwright

United Therapeutics (NASDAQ:UTHR)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reaffirmed by equities researchers at HC Wainwright in a research note issued to investors on Thursday, Benzinga reports. They presently have a $400.00 price objective on the biotechnology company’s stock. HC Wainwright’s target price points to a potential upside of 27.68% from the company’s previous close.

Several other research analysts have also issued reports on the stock. Morgan Stanley lowered shares of United Therapeutics from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and raised their target price for the company from $310.00 to $321.00 in a research note on Thursday, July 11th. StockNews.com raised shares of United Therapeutics from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, July 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of United Therapeutics from $280.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 21st. Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on United Therapeutics from $375.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 2nd. Finally, Bank of America cut their target price on shares of United Therapeutics from $303.00 to $280.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $326.42.

United Therapeutics Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:UTHR opened at $313.29 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 3.64 and a current ratio of 3.77. The firm has a market cap of $13.90 billion, a PE ratio of 14.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.09 and a beta of 0.55. United Therapeutics has a twelve month low of $208.62 and a twelve month high of $343.98. The business has a fifty day moving average of $306.21 and a 200-day moving average of $259.74.

United Therapeutics (NASDAQ:UTHR) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The biotechnology company reported $5.85 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $6.33 by ($0.48). United Therapeutics had a net margin of 42.05% and a return on equity of 18.72%. The firm had revenue of $714.90 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $691.87 million. During the same period last year, the business posted $5.24 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 19.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts predict that United Therapeutics will post 25.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Christopher Causey sold 2,240 shares of United Therapeutics stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $259.91, for a total transaction of $582,198.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 4,185 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,087,723.35. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, Director Christopher Patusky sold 1,310 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $264.35, for a total value of $346,298.50. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Christopher Causey sold 2,240 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $259.91, for a total value 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 100,884 shares of company stock valued at $30,280,055 over the last 90 days. 12.50% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On United Therapeutics

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of UTHR. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake 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 worth $123,566,000 after purchasing an additional 9,962 shares in the last quarter. LSV Asset Management raised its position in shares of United Therapeutics by 40.3% in the first quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 529,519 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $121,641,000 after buying an additional 152,151 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of United Therapeutics in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $100,519,000. Swedbank AB acquired a new stake in United Therapeutics during the first quarter worth approximately $97,316,000. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in United Therapeutics by 2.5% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 319,030 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $70,152,000 after acquiring an additional 7,723 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 94.08% of the company’s stock.

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.