United Therapeutics Co. (NASDAQ:UTHR) Short Interest Down 45.1% in September

by · The Cerbat Gem

United Therapeutics Co. (NASDAQ:UTHR – Get Free Report) was the recipient of a significant decrease in short interest in September. As of September 30th, there was short interest totalling 2,240,000 shares, a decrease of 45.1% from the September 15th total of 4,080,000 shares. Approximately 5.1% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 436,200 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 5.1 days.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Raymond Dwek sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $325.35, for a total value of $1,626,750.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 1,750 shares in the company, valued at approximately $569,362.50. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In related news, CEO Martine A. Rothblatt sold 3,600 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $328.03, for a total value of $1,180,908.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 130 shares in the company, valued at $42,643.90. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Raymond Dwek sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $325.35, for a total value of $1,626,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 1,750 shares in the company, valued at approximately $569,362.50. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 105,238 shares of company stock worth $35,612,493 over the last three months. 11.90% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On United Therapeutics

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of UTHR. LSV Asset Management raised its position in United Therapeutics by 82.5% in the 2nd quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 966,370 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $307,837,000 after buying an additional 436,851 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB acquired a new stake in United Therapeutics in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $97,316,000. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its position in shares of United Therapeutics by 677.6% during the 1st quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 300,920 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $72,422,000 after purchasing an additional 262,222 shares during the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board increased its position in shares of United Therapeutics by 567.2% during the 1st quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 180,800 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $41,533,000 after purchasing an additional 153,700 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its position in shares of United Therapeutics by 19.6% during the 2nd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 561,834 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $178,972,000 after purchasing an additional 92,240 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.08% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have issued reports on UTHR. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on United Therapeutics from $350.00 to $380.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Oppenheimer raised their target price on United Therapeutics from $400.00 to $575.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 28th. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH cut United Therapeutics from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Bank of America reduced their target price on United Therapeutics from $303.00 to $280.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, UBS Group raised their target price on United Therapeutics from $300.00 to $370.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, July 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, United Therapeutics has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $357.17.

View Our Latest Research Report on United Therapeutics

United Therapeutics Stock Up 1.1 %

United Therapeutics stock traded up $3.89 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $358.22. The stock had a trading volume of 160,296 shares, compared to its average volume of 353,526. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $346.73 and its 200-day simple moving average is $303.78. United Therapeutics has a 1-year low of $208.62 and a 1-year high of $366.08. The stock has a market capitalization of $15.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 0.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02, a quick ratio of 4.18 and a current ratio of 4.35.

United Therapeutics (NASDAQ:UTHR – Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The biotechnology company reported $5.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.33 by ($0.48). United Therapeutics had a net margin of 40.87% and a return on equity of 18.82%. The firm had revenue of $714.90 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $691.87 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $5.24 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 19.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that United Therapeutics will post 24.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

About United Therapeutics

(Get Free Report)

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.

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