United Therapeutics (NASDAQ:UTHR) Announces Quarterly Earnings Results, Beats Expectations By $0.09 EPS

United Therapeutics (NASDAQ:UTHR) posted its earnings results on Wednesday. The biotechnology company reported $6.19 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.10 by $0.09, RTT News reports. United Therapeutics had a net margin of 40.31% and a return on equity of 19.22%. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $4.36 EPS.

United Therapeutics Stock Down 10.3 %

NASDAQ UTHR traded down $36.94 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $320.56. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 205,939 shares, compared to its average volume of 361,848. United Therapeutics has a 52 week low of $221.53 and a 52 week high of $417.82. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $361.95 and a 200 day moving average price of $361.11. The firm has a market cap of $14.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 0.57.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Nilda Mesa sold 255 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $355.77, for a total value of $90,721.35. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 5,528 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,966,696.56. The trade was a 4.41 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, COO Michael Benkowitz sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $360.76, for a total value of $3,607,600.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 2,577 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $929,678.52. This represents a 79.51 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 124,164 shares of company stock worth $45,278,893. 11.90% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the stock. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH boosted their target price on shares of United Therapeutics from $319.00 to $344.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. StockNews.com raised United Therapeutics from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on United Therapeutics from $243.00 to $302.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Argus increased their price target on shares of United Therapeutics from $360.00 to $400.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, UBS Group upped their target price on shares of United Therapeutics from $415.00 to $475.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $388.25.

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.