State of Tennessee Department of Treasury Lowers Stock Position in United Therapeutics Co. (NASDAQ:UTHR)

State of Tennessee Department of Treasury reduced its position in United Therapeutics Co. (NASDAQ:UTHR) by 2.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 17,460 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after selling 492 shares during the quarter. State of Tennessee Department of Treasury’s holdings in United Therapeutics were worth $6,161,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Wealthfront Advisers LLC raised its holdings in shares of United Therapeutics by 2,090,573.5% in the 4th quarter. Wealthfront Advisers LLC now owns 18,314,300 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $6,462,018,000 after purchasing an additional 18,313,424 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in United Therapeutics during the 4th quarter worth approximately $151,764,000. FMR LLC raised its holdings in United Therapeutics by 36.5% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,471,405 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $519,170,000 after buying an additional 393,777 shares during the period. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans lifted its position in United Therapeutics by 1,325.5% during the fourth quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 204,299 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $72,085,000 after buying an additional 189,967 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AustralianSuper Pty Ltd increased its position in shares of United Therapeutics by 577.1% in the fourth quarter. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd now owns 189,780 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $66,962,000 after acquiring an additional 161,751 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.08% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Tommy G. Thompson sold 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $318.80, for a total transaction of $797,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 8,480 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,703,424. This represents a 22.77 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, COO Michael Benkowitz sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $353.64, for a total value of $3,536,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 2,577 shares in the company, valued at approximately $911,330.28. This trade represents a 79.51 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 84,500 shares of company stock worth $28,179,150 over the last ninety days. 11.90% of the stock is owned by insiders.

United Therapeutics Price Performance

Shares of UTHR stock opened at $296.42 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $13.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.02, a P/E/G ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 0.63. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $310.30 and a two-hundred day moving average of $346.99. United Therapeutics Co. has a 1-year low of $233.31 and a 1-year high of $417.82.

United Therapeutics (NASDAQ:UTHR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 26th. The biotechnology company reported $6.19 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $6.10 by $0.09. United Therapeutics had a return on equity of 19.22% and a net margin of 40.31%. The firm had revenue of $735.90 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $734.74 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $4.36 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that United Therapeutics Co. will post 24.48 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently weighed in on UTHR. StockNews.com upgraded shares of United Therapeutics from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Bank of America upgraded United Therapeutics from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $314.00 target price for the company in a research note on Monday. UBS Group raised their target price on United Therapeutics from $415.00 to $475.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. HC Wainwright restated a “buy” rating and issued a $425.00 price target on shares of United Therapeutics in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of United Therapeutics from $357.00 to $355.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $395.67.

United Therapeutics Company Profile

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.