uniQure (NASDAQ:QURE) Shares Up 7.7% Following Analyst Upgrade

Key Points

• uniQure shares surged by 7.7% after HC Wainwright upgraded the stock's price target from $70.00 to $110.00, maintaining a buy rating.
• Insider selling was notable, with CFO Christian Klemt selling 15,000 shares at an average price of $55.00 and CEO Matthew C. Kapusta selling 226,316 shares at an average price of $41.46.
• Several analysts have recently increased their price targets for uniQure, with an average target now sitting at $71.75 and a majority rating the stock as a buy.

uniQure N.V. (NASDAQ:QURE - Get Free Report) traded up 7.7% during trading on Tuesday after HC Wainwright raised their price target on the stock from $70.00 to $110.00. HC Wainwright currently has a buy rating on the stock. uniQure traded as high as $56.98 and last traded at $56.97. 2,830,508 shares traded hands during trading, an increase of 44% from the average session volume of 1,960,055 shares. The stock had previously closed at $52.91.

QURE has been the subject of several other reports. Guggenheim boosted their price target on uniQure from $28.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, September 25th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on uniQure from $30.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, September 24th. UBS Group set a $95.00 price objective on uniQure in a report on Thursday, September 25th. Chardan Capital lifted their price objective on uniQure from $35.00 to $76.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, September 25th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald lifted their price objective on uniQure from $47.00 to $80.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, September 25th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have given a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, uniQure currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $71.75.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Christian Klemt sold 15,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, September 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.00, for a total transaction of $825,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 217,730 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $11,975,150. The trade was a 6.45% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Matthew C. Kapusta sold 226,316 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $41.46, for a total value of $9,383,061.36. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 651,454 shares of the company's stock, valued at $27,009,282.84. This trade represents a 25.78% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 244,316 shares of company stock valued at $10,328,181 in the last three months. 4.79% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On uniQure

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vestal Point Capital LP increased its holdings in uniQure by 58.4% in the 1st quarter. Vestal Point Capital LP now owns 4,792,572 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $50,801,000 after purchasing an additional 1,767,572 shares in the last quarter. Nantahala Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in uniQure by 3.8% in the 1st quarter. Nantahala Capital Management LLC now owns 2,755,962 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $29,213,000 after purchasing an additional 101,598 shares in the last quarter. Aberdeen Group plc increased its holdings in uniQure by 24.2% in the 2nd quarter. Aberdeen Group plc now owns 2,750,714 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $38,345,000 after purchasing an additional 535,163 shares in the last quarter. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in uniQure in the 2nd quarter worth about $29,217,000. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings in uniQure by 471.7% in the 2nd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,807,685 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $25,199,000 after purchasing an additional 1,491,486 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.83% of the company's stock.

uniQure Price Performance

The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $22.35 and a 200 day simple moving average of $16.67. The stock has a market cap of $3.17 billion, a P/E ratio of -14.61 and a beta of 0.56. The company has a current ratio of 9.98, a quick ratio of 9.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.53.

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

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.

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