United Therapeutics Co. (NASDAQ:UTHR) Short Interest Update

United Therapeutics Co. (NASDAQ:UTHR) saw a large decline in short interest in March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,830,000 shares, a decline of 25.6% from the February 28th total of 2,460,000 shares. Currently, 4.2% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 444,900 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 4.1 days.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

UTHR has been the subject of several research reports. StockNews.com downgraded United Therapeutics from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. HC Wainwright reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $425.00 price objective on shares of United Therapeutics in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of United Therapeutics from $415.00 to $475.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, United Therapeutics presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $388.25.

United Therapeutics Trading Down 0.3 %

Shares of UTHR opened at $306.97 on Monday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $340.06 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $355.85. United Therapeutics has a 12 month low of $221.53 and a 12 month high of $417.82. The stock has a market capitalization of $13.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 0.64.

United Therapeutics (NASDAQ:UTHR) last announced 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 analyst estimates of $734.74 million. United Therapeutics had a return on equity of 19.22% and a net margin of 40.31%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $4.36 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that United Therapeutics will post 24.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at United Therapeutics

In other news, Director Tommy G. Thompson sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $318.80, for a total value of $797,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 8,480 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,703,424. This represents a 22.77 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, COO Michael Benkowitz sold 10,000 shares of United Therapeutics stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $360.76, for a total transaction of $3,607,600.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 2,577 shares in the company, valued at $929,678.52. This trade 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 72,500 shares of company stock valued at $26,134,500. Corporate insiders own 11.90% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of United Therapeutics

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Wealthfront Advisers LLC boosted its stake in United Therapeutics by 2,090,573.5% during the fourth quarter. Wealthfront Advisers LLC now owns 18,314,300 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $6,462,018,000 after acquiring an additional 18,313,424 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of United Therapeutics during the fourth quarter valued at about $151,764,000. FMR LLC boosted its position in shares of United Therapeutics by 36.5% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,471,405 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $519,170,000 after purchasing an additional 393,777 shares in the last quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of United Therapeutics in the 3rd quarter valued at about $139,206,000. Finally, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans increased its position in United Therapeutics by 1,325.5% in the 4th quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 204,299 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $72,085,000 after buying an additional 189,967 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.08% of the company’s stock.

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.