Handelsbanken Fonder AB Acquires 700 Shares of United Therapeutics Co. (NASDAQ:UTHR)

Handelsbanken Fonder AB lifted its position in shares of United Therapeutics Co. (NASDAQ:UTHR) by 8.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 8,600 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 700 shares during the period. Handelsbanken Fonder AB’s holdings in United Therapeutics were worth $1,891,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of United Therapeutics by 0.4% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,662,911 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $1,053,212,000 after purchasing an additional 20,373 shares in the last quarter. LSV Asset Management lifted its position in shares of United Therapeutics by 1.0% during the third quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 383,068 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $86,524,000 after purchasing an additional 3,700 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of United Therapeutics by 27.6% during the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 312,799 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $68,781,000 after purchasing an additional 67,738 shares in the last quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec increased its holdings in United Therapeutics by 30.9% during the third quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 260,412 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $58,819,000 after buying an additional 61,543 shares during the last quarter. Finally, California Public Employees Retirement System increased its holdings in United Therapeutics by 1.1% during the third quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 257,551 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $58,173,000 after buying an additional 2,887 shares during the last quarter. 94.08% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Leerink Partnrs restated an “outperform” rating on shares of United Therapeutics in a report on Monday, February 5th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of United Therapeutics from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $308.00 target price on shares of United Therapeutics in a research note on Thursday, February 22nd. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of United Therapeutics from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $213.00 to $215.00 in a research note on Monday, February 12th. Finally, SVB Leerink started coverage on shares of United Therapeutics in a research note on Monday, February 5th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $330.00 target price for the company. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $294.25.

United Therapeutics Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:UTHR opened at $233.85 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $233.74 and a 200 day moving average of $228.81. The stock has a market cap of $11.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.79 and a beta of 0.52. United Therapeutics Co. has a 12 month low of $204.44 and a 12 month high of $261.54. The company has a current ratio of 4.41, a quick ratio of 4.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05.

United Therapeutics (NASDAQ:UTHR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 21st. The biotechnology company reported $4.36 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.28 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $614.70 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $575.01 million. United Therapeutics had a net margin of 42.31% and a return on equity of 17.72%. United Therapeutics’s revenue for the quarter was up 25.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.67 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that United Therapeutics Co. will post 23.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at United Therapeutics

In other United Therapeutics news, EVP Paul A. Mahon sold 6,000 shares of United Therapeutics stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $215.01, for a total transaction of $1,290,060.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 36,599 shares in the company, valued at $7,869,150.99. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other United Therapeutics news, EVP Paul A. Mahon sold 6,000 shares of United Therapeutics stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $215.01, for a total transaction of $1,290,060.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 36,599 shares in the company, valued at $7,869,150.99. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Christopher Patusky sold 1,680 shares of United Therapeutics stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $224.00, for a total transaction of $376,320.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 4 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $896. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 136,990 shares of company stock worth $32,239,641 over the last three months. 12.50% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.