United Therapeutics (NASDAQ:UTHR) CEO Sells $4,914,160.00 in Stock

United Therapeutics Corporation (NASDAQ:UTHR) CEO Martine Rothblatt sold 9,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $517.28, for a total value of $4,914,160.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 324,443 shares in the company, valued at $167,827,875.04. This trade represents a 2.84% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link.

United Therapeutics Stock Performance

UTHR stock traded up $11.23 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $527.91. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 391,005 shares, compared to its average volume of 490,061. United Therapeutics Corporation has a 1 year low of $302.19 and a 1 year high of $609.35. The firm has a market capitalization of $22.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.89, a PEG ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 0.59. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $531.06 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $538.56.

United Therapeutics (NASDAQ:UTHR) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The biotechnology company reported $7.27 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.86 by $0.41. The firm had revenue of $783.30 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $804.65 million. United Therapeutics had a net margin of 41.56% and a return on equity of 20.18%. The business’s revenue was down 1.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $6.41 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that United Therapeutics Corporation will post 26.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. California State Teachers Retirement System increased its holdings in shares of United Therapeutics by 55,526.2% in the 2nd quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 33,288,952 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $18,036,953,000 after acquiring an additional 33,229,108 shares during the period. BlackRock Inc. bought a new position in shares of United Therapeutics in the 2nd quarter worth $2,868,735,000. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in shares of United Therapeutics by 74.5% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 2,441,492 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $1,189,617,000 after purchasing an additional 1,042,711 shares during the last quarter. Jupiter Topco LLC purchased a new stake in shares of United Therapeutics during the 2nd quarter worth $450,140,000. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in United Therapeutics during the fourth quarter valued at about $293,418,000. 94.08% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

UTHR has been the subject of several research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of United Therapeutics from $685.00 to $687.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. Morgan Stanley set a $515.00 target price on shares of United Therapeutics in a research report on Thursday, August 6th. Bank of America lowered their price target on United Therapeutics from $620.00 to $613.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, July 10th. Wells Fargo & Company raised United Therapeutics from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $575.00 to $735.00 in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada reduced their price objective on United Therapeutics from $704.00 to $677.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 6th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, United Therapeutics has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $646.00.

About United Therapeutics

United Therapeutics Corporation (NASDAQ: UTHR) is a biotechnology company dedicated to the development and commercialization of unique products to address life-threatening illnesses. The company’s primary focus has been on pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH), where it has launched several therapies designed to improve functional capacity and quality of life for patients. Its marketed products include continuous infusion treprostinil (Remodulin), inhaled treprostinil (Tyvaso), oral treprostinil (Orenitram) and tadalafil (Adcirca), each tailored to different modes of administration and patient needs.