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

United Therapeutics (NASDAQ:UTHR) was downgraded by investment analysts at StockNews.com from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday.

UTHR has been the topic of a number of other reports. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $308.00 price objective on shares of United Therapeutics in a research report on Thursday, February 22nd. Leerink Partnrs reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of United Therapeutics in a research report on Monday, February 5th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on United Therapeutics from $309.00 to $325.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 7th. SVB Leerink assumed coverage on United Therapeutics in a research report on Monday, February 5th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $330.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, HC Wainwright reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $300.00 price objective on shares of United Therapeutics in a research report on Thursday, February 22nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $294.40.

United Therapeutics Trading Down 1.9 %

Shares of UTHR opened at $243.27 on Tuesday. United Therapeutics has a 12-month low of $204.44 and a 12-month high of $261.54. The company has a quick ratio of 4.28, a current ratio of 4.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.26 and a beta of 0.52. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $225.55 and its 200 day moving average price is $227.39.

United Therapeutics (NASDAQ:UTHR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 21st. The biotechnology company reported $4.36 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.28 by $0.08. United Therapeutics had a return on equity of 17.72% and a net margin of 42.31%. The company had revenue of $614.70 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $575.01 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.67 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 25.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that United Therapeutics will post 23.32 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other United Therapeutics news, CEO Martine A. Rothblatt sold 15,000 shares of United Therapeutics stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $248.33, for a total value of $3,724,950.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 130 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $32,282.90. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other United Therapeutics news, CEO Martine A. Rothblatt sold 15,000 shares of United Therapeutics stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $248.33, for a total value of $3,724,950.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 130 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $32,282.90. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Christopher Patusky sold 1,680 shares of United Therapeutics stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $224.00, for a total value of $376,320.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 4 shares in the company, valued at approximately $896. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 76,680 shares of company stock worth $17,886,630. Corporate insiders own 12.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of United Therapeutics

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. BlackRock Inc. increased its position in shares of United Therapeutics by 7.3% in the second quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 5,096,685 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $1,125,093,000 after acquiring an additional 344,724 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted 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 during the period. State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of United Therapeutics by 4.5% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,875,758 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $414,074,000 after buying an additional 80,656 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in shares of United Therapeutics by 73.7% in the first quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,675,414 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $300,585,000 after buying an additional 710,668 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in United Therapeutics by 6.2% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 806,381 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $177,758,000 after purchasing an additional 47,238 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.