Insider Selling: United Therapeutics (NASDAQ:UTHR) CEO Sells 4,000 Shares of Stock

Key Points

• CEO Martine Rothblatt of United Therapeutics sold 4,000 shares of the company’s stock for a total of $1,778,800, reducing his ownership to just 130 shares.
• Despite a revenue increase of 11.7% year-over-year, the company's earnings per share for the last quarter fell short at $6.41, missing estimates by $0.39.
• United Therapeutics has received multiple upgrades from analysts, with price targets raised significantly, indicating a largely positive outlook on the stock.

United Therapeutics Corporation (NASDAQ:UTHR - Get Free Report) CEO Martine Rothblatt sold 4,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $444.70, for a total value of $1,778,800.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 130 shares in the company, valued at approximately $57,811. This trade represents a 96.85% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink.

United Therapeutics Price Performance

NASDAQ UTHR traded down $5.38 during trading on Friday, reaching $440.00. 671,517 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 595,415. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $369.35 and a 200-day moving average price of $322.73. The stock has a market capitalization of $19.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.17, a PEG ratio of 6.84 and a beta of 0.66. United Therapeutics Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $266.98 and a fifty-two week high of $459.48.

United Therapeutics (NASDAQ:UTHR - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The biotechnology company reported $6.41 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $6.80 by ($0.39). The business had revenue of $798.60 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $802.13 million. United Therapeutics had a return on equity of 18.73% and a net margin of 40.36%.United Therapeutics's quarterly revenue was up 11.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $5.85 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that United Therapeutics Corporation will post 24.48 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On United Therapeutics

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. XTX Topco Ltd bought a new position in United Therapeutics in the first quarter worth approximately $313,000. Allianz Asset Management GmbH lifted its holdings in shares of United Therapeutics by 96.9% in the 1st quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 67,576 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $20,832,000 after acquiring an additional 33,254 shares during the last quarter. LPL Financial LLC lifted its holdings in shares of United Therapeutics by 77.3% in the 1st quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 25,246 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $7,783,000 after acquiring an additional 11,007 shares during the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in United Therapeutics by 11.4% during the 1st quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 3,678 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $1,129,000 after buying an additional 376 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of United Therapeutics in the 1st quarter valued at about $227,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.08% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

UTHR has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. UBS Group boosted their price objective on United Therapeutics from $560.00 to $580.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, September 29th. Bank of America boosted their price objective on United Therapeutics from $314.00 to $463.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, September 2nd. Weiss Ratings restated a "hold (c+)" rating on shares of United Therapeutics in a report on Wednesday. Cantor Fitzgerald boosted their price objective on United Therapeutics from $405.00 to $525.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, September 10th. Finally, HC Wainwright boosted their price objective on United Therapeutics from $400.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, September 5th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, United Therapeutics has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $457.21.

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.

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