United Therapeutics (NASDAQ:UTHR) Receives "Hold (C+)" Rating from Weiss Ratings

Key Points

• United Therapeutics has received a "Hold (C+)" rating from Weiss Ratings, with varying opinions from other analysts, including a raised price target to $575.00 by Oppenheimer and a "buy" rating from UBS Group.
• The biotechnology company's stock is currently down 1.8%, trading at $418.58, with a market cap of $18.88 billion and a PE ratio of 16.64.
• In the past three months, insiders have sold approximately 322,935 shares of United Therapeutics stock, indicating active transactions among top executives.

United Therapeutics (NASDAQ:UTHR - Get Free Report)'s stock had its "hold (c+)" rating restated by Weiss Ratings in a research note issued to investors on Friday,Weiss Ratings reports.

Other research analysts have also issued reports about the stock. Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on shares of United Therapeutics from $510.00 to $575.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, September 5th. Wells Fargo & Company assumed coverage on shares of United Therapeutics in a research note on Monday. They set an "underweight" rating and a $414.00 price target for the company. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of United Therapeutics from $560.00 to $580.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, September 29th. Cantor Fitzgerald raised their price objective on shares of United Therapeutics from $405.00 to $525.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 10th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on United Therapeutics from $328.00 to $435.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, October 10th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $461.62.

United Therapeutics Stock Down 1.8%

NASDAQ UTHR traded down $7.63 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $418.58. 394,910 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 670,969. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $395.28 and a 200 day moving average price of $331.38. United Therapeutics has a 52 week low of $266.98 and a 52 week high of $459.48. The stock has a market cap of $18.88 billion, a PE ratio of 16.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.65 and a beta of 0.66.

United Therapeutics (NASDAQ:UTHR - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 30th. The biotechnology company reported $6.41 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $6.80 by ($0.39). United Therapeutics had a return on equity of 18.73% and a net margin of 40.36%.The company had revenue of $798.60 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $802.13 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $5.85 earnings per share. The company's revenue was up 11.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that United Therapeutics will post 24.48 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other United Therapeutics news, COO Michael Benkowitz sold 22,500 shares of United Therapeutics stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $427.41, for a total value of $9,616,725.00. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Martine A. Rothblatt sold 4,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $422.15, for a total transaction of $1,688,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 130 shares of the company's stock, valued at $54,879.50. This represents a 96.85% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 322,935 shares of company stock worth $133,361,282 in the last three months. 10.30% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On United Therapeutics

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in United Therapeutics by 0.3% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,457,135 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $1,374,001,000 after acquiring an additional 15,312 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its position 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 valued at $362,876,000 after acquiring an additional 364,713 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in United Therapeutics by 90.2% during the second quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 884,703 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $254,219,000 after acquiring an additional 419,588 shares during the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. lifted its position in United Therapeutics by 38.1% during the second quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 715,834 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $205,695,000 after acquiring an additional 197,384 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in United Therapeutics by 0.7% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 624,711 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $192,571,000 after acquiring an additional 4,145 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other 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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