uniQure (NASDAQ:QURE) Stock Rating Lowered by Wall Street Zen

Key Points

• Wall Street Zen downgraded uniQure from “hold” to “sell,” contrasting with the broader analyst consensus of “Moderate Buy” and a $65 price target.
• uniQure opened at $43.63 and has experienced substantial volatility, with a 52-week range of $8.73 to $71.50. The company reported a quarterly loss of $1.22 per share, missing estimates, although revenue slightly exceeded expectations.
• Insiders sold 433,229 shares worth about $17.9 million over the past three months, while institutional investors own 78.83% of the stock.

uniQure (NASDAQ:QURE - Get Free Report) was downgraded by analysts at Wall Street Zen from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a note issued to investors on Saturday.

Several other equities research analysts also recently commented on QURE. Stifel Nicolaus set a $28.00 price objective on uniQure in a report on Tuesday, May 5th. HC Wainwright boosted their target price on shares of uniQure from $50.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, June 29th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on shares of uniQure from $14.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, June 18th. Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded shares of uniQure from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and set a $61.00 price target for the company in a research note on Wednesday, June 17th. Finally, Wolfe Research raised shares of uniQure from a "peer perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $65.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Wednesday. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, uniQure currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $65.00.

uniQure Stock Performance

QURE opened at $43.63 on Friday. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $37.49 and its 200 day simple moving average is $26.25. uniQure has a 52-week low of $8.73 and a 52-week high of $71.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 10.40 and a current ratio of 10.01. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.03 billion, a PE ratio of -10.88 and a beta of 0.90.

uniQure (NASDAQ:QURE - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The biotechnology company reported ($1.22) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.82) by ($0.40). The company had revenue of $5.84 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.45 million. uniQure had a negative net margin of 1,350.73% and a negative return on equity of 111.96%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned ($0.69) earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that uniQure will post -3.44 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at uniQure

In other uniQure news, insider Walid Abi-Saab sold 45,000 shares of uniQure stock in a transaction on Friday, May 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $25.06, for a total transaction of $1,127,700.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 169,669 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,251,905.14. The trade was a 20.96% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Madhavan Balachandran sold 11,685 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.06, for a total transaction of $526,526.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 43,254 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,949,025.24. This represents a 21.27% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 433,229 shares of company stock worth $17,944,799 in the last three months. 4.65% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of uniQure

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of QURE. Avoro Capital Advisors LLC grew its stake in uniQure by 38.4% in the 4th quarter. Avoro Capital Advisors LLC now owns 6,150,000 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $147,170,000 after buying an additional 1,705,556 shares during the last quarter. Aberdeen Group plc lifted its position in uniQure by 25.1% during the fourth quarter. Aberdeen Group plc now owns 3,678,640 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $88,030,000 after acquiring an additional 738,897 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its position in uniQure by 123.8% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,231,043 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $77,319,000 after acquiring an additional 1,787,033 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in shares of uniQure by 155.3% during the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,934,626 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $70,226,000 after acquiring an additional 1,785,275 shares during the period. Finally, Orbimed Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of uniQure by 189.7% during the first quarter. Orbimed Advisors LLC now owns 2,136,149 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $34,926,000 after acquiring an additional 1,398,749 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.83% of the company's stock.

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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