Eventide Asset Management LLC Acquires Shares of 498,212 uniQure N.V. $QURE

Key Points

• Eventide Asset Management disclosed a new fourth-quarter stake in uniQure, buying 498,212 shares valued at about $11.9 million. The position represented roughly 0.80% of the biotech company.
• Other large institutional investors also increased their holdings, including State Street and JPMorgan, and institutions now own about 78.83% of uniQure shares. That suggests continued heavy interest from professional investors despite recent volatility.
• There has been notable insider selling at uniQure, including sales by several directors, with insider transactions totaling 85,817 shares over the past three months. Some of the selling occurred under pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 plans, which may soften the bearish signal.

Eventide Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in uniQure N.V. (NASDAQ:QURE - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 498,212 shares of the biotechnology company's stock, valued at approximately $11,922,000. Eventide Asset Management LLC owned about 0.80% of uniQure at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in QURE. State Street Corp lifted its stake in uniQure by 123.8% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,231,043 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $77,319,000 after buying an additional 1,787,033 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in uniQure by 155.3% in the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,934,626 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $70,226,000 after buying an additional 1,785,275 shares during the last quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of uniQure in the third quarter valued at approximately $75,320,000. Sofinnova Investments Inc. increased its holdings in shares of uniQure by 185.5% in the second quarter. Sofinnova Investments Inc. now owns 1,558,356 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $21,723,000 after purchasing an additional 1,012,585 shares during the period. Finally, Avoro Capital Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of uniQure by 22.6% in the third quarter. Avoro Capital Advisors LLC now owns 4,444,444 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $259,422,000 after purchasing an additional 819,444 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.83% of the company's stock.

Key Stories Impacting uniQure

Here are the key news stories impacting uniQure this week:

• Negative Sentiment: A cluster of insiders sold shares in recent filings, including directors Robert Gut, Madhavan Balachandran, Rachelle Suzanne Jacques, Jack Kaye, Leonard E. Post, Jeremy P. Springhorn, and David D. Meek, along with insider Kylie O'keefe. The transactions totaled a meaningful reduction in ownership across the group, increasing focus on insider confidence. Article: UniQure Rocked by Wave of High-Level Insider Stock Sales
• Neutral Sentiment: Several of the sales were made under pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plans, which can lessen the bearish signal because the trades may have been scheduled in advance rather than reflecting a sudden change in outlook.
• Neutral Sentiment: The stock has already been trending above its 50-day and 200-day moving averages, so some of the selling may simply reflect profit-taking after a strong move rather than a deterioration in the company’s fundamentals.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Madhavan Balachandran sold 1,993 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $27.06, for a total transaction of $53,930.58. Following the transaction, the director owned 43,254 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,170,453.24. This represents a 4.40% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Robert Gut sold 7,552 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $26.05, for a total value of $196,729.60. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 27,435 shares in the company, valued at $714,681.75. This represents a 21.59% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold a total of 85,817 shares of company stock valued at $2,232,383 over the last three months. 4.65% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on QURE. Barclays dropped their target price on uniQure from $31.00 to $25.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company raised uniQure from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and boosted their target price for the company from $15.00 to $60.00 in a report on Monday, March 9th. Wolfe Research began coverage on uniQure in a report on Monday, February 23rd. They issued a "peer perform" rating on the stock. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued a "neutral" rating and issued a $9.00 target price (down from $55.00) on shares of uniQure in a report on Monday, March 2nd. Finally, Chardan Capital boosted their target price on uniQure from $31.00 to $37.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $42.83.

uniQure Stock Performance

Shares of QURE stock opened at $27.57 on Monday. The business's fifty day moving average price is $22.52 and its 200 day moving average price is $21.76. uniQure N.V. has a 1-year low of $8.73 and a 1-year high of $71.50. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.74 billion, a PE ratio of -7.92 and a beta of 0.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 10.40 and a quick ratio of 10.40.

uniQure (NASDAQ:QURE - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 5th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.85) earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.88) by $0.03. uniQure had a negative return on equity of 145.81% and a negative net margin of 1,154.42%.The firm had revenue of $3.56 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.21 million. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that uniQure N.V. will post -3.64 EPS for the current fiscal year.

uniQure Company Profile

uniQure N.V. is a biotechnology company focused on the development and commercialization of gene therapies for patients with severe medical needs. Using its proprietary adeno‐associated viral (AAV) vector platform, the company designs single‐dose treatments aimed at addressing the underlying genetic causes of disease rather than solely managing symptoms. Its most advanced program, Hemgenix® (etranacogene dezaparvovec), received regulatory approval in the United States and Europe for adult patients with hemophilia B, marking one of the first gene therapies for a bleeding disorder to reach the market.

Beyond hemophilia B, uniQure's pipeline includes preclinical and clinical-stage candidates targeting rare and debilitating conditions such as aromatic l-amino acid decarboxylase (AADC) deficiency, Huntington's disease, and Parkinson's disease.

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