D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. Sells 443,727 Shares of uniQure (NASDAQ:QURE)

D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. lessened its stake in shares of uniQure (NASDAQ:QURE - Free Report) by 59.7% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 299,771 shares of the biotechnology company's stock after selling 443,727 shares during the period. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. owned about 0.62% of uniQure worth $5,294,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. increased its stake in shares of uniQure by 53.8% in the fourth quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 359,173 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $6,343,000 after acquiring an additional 125,682 shares during the last quarter. Bellevue Group AG acquired a new position in shares of uniQure in the fourth quarter worth $397,000. BNP Paribas Financial Markets lifted its holdings in shares of uniQure by 9.6% during the 4th quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 468,357 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $8,271,000 after buying an additional 41,166 shares during the last quarter. Boxer Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in uniQure in the fourth quarter worth approximately $13,245,000. Finally, Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC acquired a new position in uniQure during the fourth quarter worth $9,473,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.83% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

QURE has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $24.00 price target on shares of uniQure in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Chardan Capital restated a "buy" rating and issued a $38.00 price objective on shares of uniQure in a research note on Monday, May 12th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of uniQure from $35.00 to $30.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Cantor Fitzgerald raised uniQure to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Monday. Finally, StockNews.com raised uniQure to a "sell" rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $37.82.

uniQure Price Performance

NASDAQ QURE traded up $0.60 on Tuesday, hitting $15.31. 1,375,329 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,879,474. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $12.34 and a two-hundred day moving average of $12.43. uniQure has a 1-year low of $3.73 and a 1-year high of $19.18. The company has a current ratio of 6.51, a quick ratio of 6.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92. The company has a market cap of $838.62 million, a P/E ratio of -3.09 and a beta of 0.10.

uniQure (NASDAQ:QURE - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, May 9th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.82) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($1.07) by $0.25. The business had revenue of $1.57 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.93 million. uniQure had a negative return on equity of 188.82% and a negative net margin of 837.80%. On average, equities analysts predict that uniQure will post -3.75 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Christian Klemt sold 14,341 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $10.70, for a total transaction of $153,448.70. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 152,372 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,630,380.40. This represents a 8.60% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Matthew C. Kapusta sold 28,341 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $10.29, for a total value of $291,628.89. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 651,454 shares in the company, valued at $6,703,461.66. The trade was a 4.17% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 90,830 shares of company stock valued at $961,401 in the last 90 days. 4.74% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

uniQure Company Profile

uniQure N.V. develops treatments for patients suffering from rare and other devastating diseases. It offers HEMGENIX that has completed Phase III HOPE-B pivotal trial for the treatment of hemophilia B. The company also develops AMT-130, a gene therapy that is in Phase I/II clinical study for the treatment of Huntington's disease.