Plato Investment Management Ltd Grows Position in United Therapeutics Co. (NASDAQ:UTHR)

Plato Investment Management Ltd boosted its position in shares of United Therapeutics Co. (NASDAQ:UTHR) by 7.1% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,008 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 264 shares during the period. Plato Investment Management Ltd’s holdings in United Therapeutics were worth $1,277,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. LSV Asset Management grew its stake in shares of United Therapeutics by 82.5% during the second quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 966,370 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $307,837,000 after buying an additional 436,851 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in United Therapeutics by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 561,950 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $123,566,000 after purchasing an additional 9,962 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of United Therapeutics during the fourth quarter worth $100,519,000. Swedbank AB purchased a new stake in shares of United Therapeutics during the first quarter valued at $97,316,000. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB grew its holdings in shares of United Therapeutics by 677.6% in the first quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 300,920 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $72,422,000 after purchasing an additional 262,222 shares during the last quarter. 94.08% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

United Therapeutics Trading Down 0.6 %

NASDAQ UTHR opened at $339.12 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $15.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.03, a P/E/G ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 0.57. The company has a current ratio of 4.35, a quick ratio of 4.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02. United Therapeutics Co. has a 12-month low of $208.62 and a 12-month high of $366.08. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $336.73 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $287.95.

United Therapeutics (NASDAQ:UTHR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The biotechnology company reported $5.85 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $6.33 by ($0.48). United Therapeutics had a net margin of 40.87% and a return on equity of 18.82%. The firm had revenue of $714.90 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $691.87 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $5.24 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 19.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that United Therapeutics Co. will post 24.86 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on UTHR shares. HC Wainwright reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $400.00 price objective on shares of United Therapeutics in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. StockNews.com cut United Therapeutics from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. TD Cowen lifted their target price on United Therapeutics from $270.00 to $350.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 11th. Morgan Stanley cut United Therapeutics from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $310.00 to $321.00 in a report on Thursday, July 11th. Finally, Oppenheimer raised their price target on United Therapeutics from $400.00 to $575.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 28th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $350.36.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other United Therapeutics news, CEO Martine A. Rothblatt sold 3,600 shares of United Therapeutics stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $313.91, for a total transaction of $1,130,076.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 130 shares in the company, valued at approximately $40,808.30. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other United Therapeutics news, CEO Martine A. Rothblatt sold 3,600 shares of United Therapeutics stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $313.91, for a total transaction of $1,130,076.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 130 shares in the company, valued at approximately $40,808.30. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Martine A. Rothblatt sold 269 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $348.41, for a total value of $93,722.29. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 130 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $45,293.30. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 114,522 shares of company stock worth $37,671,474. 12.50% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.