United Therapeutics (NASDAQ:UTHR) Coverage Initiated at Wells Fargo & Company

Key Points

• Wells Fargo & Company initiated coverage of United Therapeutics (NASDAQ:UTHR) with an "underweight" rating and set a price target of $414.00, indicating a potential downside of 4.46% from its previous close.
• In the latest reports, other analysts have varying opinions, with JPMorgan lowering its target to $330.00, while Cantor Fitzgerald raised it to $525.00, and Royal Bank of Canada set a target of $569.00.
• United Therapeutics reported a quarterly EPS of $6.41, missing expectations, while its revenue of $798.60 million also fell short of analyst estimates of $802.13 million.

Research analysts at Wells Fargo & Company initiated coverage on shares of United Therapeutics (NASDAQ:UTHR - Get Free Report) in a research note issued on Monday,Briefing.com Automated Import reports. The brokerage set an "underweight" rating and a $414.00 price target on the biotechnology company's stock. Wells Fargo & Company's price objective would suggest a potential downside of 4.46% from the company's previous close.

Several other analysts also recently commented on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of United Therapeutics from $350.00 to $330.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Cantor Fitzgerald boosted their price target on United Therapeutics from $405.00 to $525.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, September 10th. Royal Bank Of Canada initiated coverage on shares of United Therapeutics in a research report on Friday, September 26th. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $569.00 target price for the company. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "hold (c+)" rating on shares of United Therapeutics in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Oppenheimer increased their price target on United Therapeutics from $510.00 to $575.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, September 5th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, United Therapeutics presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $457.21.

United Therapeutics Stock Performance

UTHR opened at $433.34 on Monday. The firm's fifty day moving average is $385.69 and its two-hundred day moving average is $328.19. The firm has a market cap of $19.55 billion, a PE ratio of 16.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.72 and a beta of 0.66. United Therapeutics has a twelve month low of $266.98 and a twelve month high of $459.48.

United Therapeutics (NASDAQ:UTHR - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 30th. The biotechnology company reported $6.41 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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%.During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $5.85 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was up 11.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that United Therapeutics will post 24.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, COO Michael Benkowitz sold 22,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $417.64, for a total value of $9,396,900.00. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Paul A. Mahon sold 11,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $308.75, for a total transaction of $3,396,250.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 36,781 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,356,133.75. This represents a 23.02% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 292,435 shares of company stock worth $118,956,307. Insiders own 10.30% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of United Therapeutics during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $136,453,000. Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of United Therapeutics by 90.2% in the 2nd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 884,703 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $254,219,000 after purchasing an additional 419,588 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in United Therapeutics by 40.1% during the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,273,161 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $362,876,000 after buying an additional 364,713 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC bought a new position in shares of United Therapeutics in the first quarter valued at $83,533,000. Finally, Amundi increased its position in shares of United Therapeutics by 198.8% during the first quarter. Amundi now owns 350,193 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $107,635,000 after acquiring an additional 232,988 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 94.08% of the company's stock.

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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