Rafferty Asset Management LLC Purchases Shares of 82,589 uniQure N.V. $QURE

Key Points

• Rafferty Asset Management LLC acquired 82,589 shares of uniQure N.V. for approximately $875,000, bringing its ownership to 0.15% of the company.
• Insider selling occurred with Director Robert Gut selling 3,336 shares, leading to a 5.54% decrease in his ownership, while fellow Director Rachelle Jacques sold 2,112 shares for a similar decrease in ownership.
• Analysts generally rate uniQure as a "Buy" with a consensus target price of $37.45, despite the company's reported losses and challenges.

Rafferty Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in uniQure N.V. (NASDAQ:QURE - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 82,589 shares of the biotechnology company's stock, valued at approximately $875,000. Rafferty Asset Management LLC owned 0.15% of uniQure as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Aberdeen Group plc grew its holdings in uniQure by 46.8% in the 1st quarter. Aberdeen Group plc now owns 2,215,551 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $23,485,000 after buying an additional 706,216 shares during the period. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC grew its stake in uniQure by 27.5% during the 1st quarter. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC now owns 400,785 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $4,248,000 after buying an additional 86,372 shares during the last quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. bought a new position in shares of uniQure in the first quarter worth $3,218,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of uniQure by 3.7% in the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 279,999 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $2,968,000 after purchasing an additional 10,019 shares in the last quarter. Finally, XTX Topco Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of uniQure by 127.3% in the first quarter. XTX Topco Ltd now owns 36,999 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $392,000 after buying an additional 20,720 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.83% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

QURE has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of uniQure from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, August 2nd. Cantor Fitzgerald set a $47.00 price target on uniQure in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. HC Wainwright reissued a "buy" rating and set a $70.00 target price on shares of uniQure in a research report on Thursday, May 29th. Mizuho raised uniQure from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $30.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 14th. Finally, Chardan Capital reissued a "buy" rating and set a $35.00 target price on shares of uniQure in a research report on Friday, August 29th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have issued a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $37.45.

uniQure Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:QURE traded up $0.37 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $17.38. The stock had a trading volume of 1,475,033 shares, compared to its average volume of 779,324. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.53, a current ratio of 9.98 and a quick ratio of 9.98. The business's 50-day moving average price is $14.83 and its 200 day moving average price is $13.75. uniQure N.V. has a 52 week low of $4.45 and a 52 week high of $19.18. The stock has a market capitalization of $953.64 million, a PE ratio of -4.43 and a beta of 0.14.

uniQure (NASDAQ:QURE - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, July 29th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.69) EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.89) by $0.20. uniQure had a negative net margin of 1,387.98% and a negative return on equity of 1,010.74%. The company had revenue of $5.26 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $5.00 million. As a group, equities analysts predict that uniQure N.V. will post -3.75 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at uniQure

In other news, Director Rachelle Suzanne Jacques sold 2,112 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $14.45, for a total transaction of $30,518.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 28,346 shares in the company, valued at $409,599.70. This represents a 6.93% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Madhavan Balachandran sold 2,112 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $14.45, for a total transaction of $30,518.40. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 37,697 shares of the company's stock, valued at $544,721.65. This trade represents a 5.31% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 22,144 shares of company stock worth $322,426. Corporate insiders own 4.79% of the company's stock.

About uniQure

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.