Loomis Sayles & Co. L P Has $53.21 Million Stock Holdings in United Therapeutics Co. (NASDAQ:UTHR)

Loomis Sayles & Co. L P reduced its holdings in shares of United Therapeutics Co. (NASDAQ:UTHR) by 36.0% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 148,481 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after selling 83,408 shares during the period. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P owned about 0.33% of United Therapeutics worth $53,208,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. boosted its holdings 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 valued at $652,000 after purchasing an additional 33 shares in the last quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank boosted its stake in United Therapeutics by 0.8% in the 2nd quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 4,525 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $1,441,000 after buying an additional 37 shares in the last quarter. ClariVest Asset Management LLC grew its position in United Therapeutics by 120.0% in the second quarter. ClariVest Asset Management LLC now owns 77 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 42 shares during the period. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. raised 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 in the last quarter. Finally, First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. raised 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 in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 94.08% of the company’s stock.

United Therapeutics Trading Down 1.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ UTHR opened at $368.66 on Tuesday. United Therapeutics Co. has a 1 year low of $208.62 and a 1 year high of $417.82. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $365.54 and its 200-day moving average is $333.04. The firm has a market capitalization of $16.46 billion, a PE ratio of 16.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.08 and a beta of 0.56.

United Therapeutics (NASDAQ:UTHR) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The biotechnology company reported $6.39 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $6.16 by $0.23. United Therapeutics had a net margin of 40.31% and a return on equity of 19.22%. The company had revenue of $748.90 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $722.62 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $5.38 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that United Therapeutics Co. will post 25.22 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at United Therapeutics

In other news, EVP Paul A. Mahon sold 7,700 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $367.36, for a total transaction of $2,828,672.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 36,710 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,485,785.60. This represents a 17.34 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, COO Michael Benkowitz sold 15,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $401.44, for a total value of $6,021,600.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 2,577 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,034,510.88. The trade was a 85.34 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 117,227 shares of company stock worth $43,671,320 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 11.90% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

UTHR has been the topic of several analyst reports. Argus upped their target price on shares of United Therapeutics from $360.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH upped their price objective 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. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on shares of United Therapeutics from $243.00 to $302.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on United Therapeutics from $315.00 to $432.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, September 23rd. Finally, Bank of America dropped their price target on United Therapeutics from $303.00 to $280.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 1st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $370.86.

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.