Daiwa Securities Group Inc. Purchases 162 Shares of United Therapeutics Co. (NASDAQ:UTHR)

Daiwa Securities Group Inc. boosted its position in United Therapeutics Co. (NASDAQ:UTHR) by 3.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,281 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after buying an additional 162 shares during the quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc.’s holdings in United Therapeutics were worth $1,511,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. acquired a new position in shares of United Therapeutics during the 4th quarter worth about $25,000. Brooklyn Investment Group bought a new position in United Therapeutics in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $33,000. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB lifted its holdings in shares of United Therapeutics by 31.9% during the fourth quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 240 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $85,000 after buying an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp boosted its position in shares of United Therapeutics by 678.9% in the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 296 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $104,000 after acquiring an additional 258 shares during the period. Finally, SBI Securities Co. Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of United Therapeutics in the fourth quarter worth $131,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.08% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at United Therapeutics

In other news, Director Louis W. Sullivan sold 26,209 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $373.22, for a total transaction of $9,781,722.98. Following the sale, the director now owns 5,051 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,885,134.22. This represents a 83.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, COO Michael Benkowitz sold 10,000 shares of United Therapeutics stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, 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. Insiders have sold a total of 116,464 shares of company stock worth $42,396,244 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 11.90% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently commented on the stock. HC Wainwright reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $425.00 target price on shares of United Therapeutics in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of United Therapeutics from $415.00 to $475.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered United Therapeutics from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $388.25.

United Therapeutics Price Performance

Shares of UTHR stock opened at $307.24 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $349.77 and its 200 day simple moving average is $358.48. United Therapeutics Co. has a one year low of $221.53 and a one year high of $417.82. The firm has a market cap of $13.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.49, a P/E/G ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 0.64.

United Therapeutics (NASDAQ:UTHR) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 26th. The biotechnology company reported $6.19 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $6.10 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $735.90 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $734.74 million. United Therapeutics had a net margin of 40.31% and a return on equity of 19.22%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $4.36 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that United Therapeutics Co. will post 24.48 earnings per share for the current year.

United Therapeutics 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.