Swedbank AB Sells 7,718 Shares of United Therapeutics Co. (NASDAQ:UTHR)

Swedbank AB trimmed its position in United Therapeutics Co. (NASDAQ:UTHR) by 1.8% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 414,937 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after selling 7,718 shares during the quarter. Swedbank AB’s holdings in United Therapeutics were worth $148,693,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. increased its stake in United Therapeutics by 1.6% during the second quarter. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. now owns 2,047 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $652,000 after acquiring an additional 33 shares during the last quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank increased its stake in United Therapeutics by 0.8% during the second quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 4,525 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $1,441,000 after acquiring an additional 37 shares during the last quarter. ClariVest Asset Management LLC increased its stake in United Therapeutics by 120.0% during the second quarter. ClariVest Asset Management LLC now owns 77 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 42 shares during the last quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. increased its stake in United Therapeutics by 14.0% during the second quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. now owns 343 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $109,000 after acquiring an additional 42 shares during the last quarter. Finally, First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. increased its stake in United Therapeutics by 1.8% during the third quarter. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. now owns 2,681 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $961,000 after acquiring an additional 48 shares during the last quarter. 94.08% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

United Therapeutics Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ UTHR opened at $372.89 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $16.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.38, a PEG ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 0.56. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $365.06 and a 200 day moving average price of $331.82. United Therapeutics Co. has a 52-week low of $208.62 and a 52-week high of $417.82.

United Therapeutics (NASDAQ:UTHR) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The biotechnology company reported $6.39 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.16 by $0.23. The company had revenue of $748.90 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $722.62 million. United Therapeutics had a return on equity of 19.22% and a net margin of 40.31%. United Therapeutics’s revenue was up 22.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $5.38 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that United Therapeutics Co. will post 25.22 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on UTHR shares. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on United Therapeutics from $315.00 to $432.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH upped their target price on United Therapeutics from $319.00 to $344.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Oppenheimer upped their target price on United Therapeutics from $575.00 to $600.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. HC Wainwright upped their target price on United Therapeutics from $400.00 to $425.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Argus upped their target price on United Therapeutics from $360.00 to $400.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $370.86.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other United Therapeutics news, Director Christopher Causey sold 510 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $376.63, for a total transaction of $192,081.30. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 3,675 shares in the company, valued at $1,384,115.25. This represents a 12.19 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Paul A. Mahon sold 7,700 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $367.36, for a total value of $2,828,672.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 36,710 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,485,785.60. This represents a 17.34 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 117,496 shares of company stock worth $43,765,042 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 11.90% of the company’s stock.

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.