Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS Increases Stock Position in United Therapeutics Co. (NASDAQ:UTHR)

Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS grew its stake in shares of United Therapeutics Co. (NASDAQ:UTHR) by 0.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 9,860 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 53 shares during the quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS’s holdings in United Therapeutics were worth $3,479,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in UTHR. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans boosted its holdings in shares of United Therapeutics by 33.7% during the 3rd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 14,332 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $5,136,000 after acquiring an additional 3,615 shares during the last quarter. Quest Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of United Therapeutics by 347.7% during the 3rd quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 1,249 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $448,000 after acquiring an additional 970 shares during the last quarter. Pathstone Holdings LLC boosted its holdings in shares of United Therapeutics by 4.1% during the 3rd quarter. Pathstone Holdings LLC now owns 4,118 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $1,476,000 after acquiring an additional 163 shares during the last quarter. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG purchased a new stake in shares of United Therapeutics during the 3rd quarter valued at about $344,000. Finally, PNC Financial Services Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of United Therapeutics by 14.9% during the 3rd quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 3,179 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $1,139,000 after acquiring an additional 412 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.08% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on UTHR shares. HC Wainwright reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $425.00 price objective on shares of United Therapeutics in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of United Therapeutics from $415.00 to $475.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of 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 issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $388.25.

United Therapeutics Trading Down 0.2 %

NASDAQ UTHR opened at $312.99 on Monday. United Therapeutics Co. has a 12 month low of $221.53 and a 12 month high of $417.82. The stock has a market cap of $14.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.75, a PEG ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 0.64. The company’s 50 day moving average is $345.10 and its two-hundred day moving average is $357.05.

United Therapeutics (NASDAQ:UTHR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 26th. The biotechnology company reported $6.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $6.10 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $735.90 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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 last year, the business posted $4.36 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that United Therapeutics Co. will post 24.48 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, COO Michael Benkowitz sold 10,000 shares of United Therapeutics stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $356.68, for a total transaction of $3,566,800.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 2,577 shares in the company, valued at $919,164.36. This trade represents a 79.51 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Nilda Mesa sold 255 shares of United Therapeutics stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $355.77, for a total transaction of $90,721.35. Following the sale, the director now owns 5,528 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,966,696.56. The trade was a 4.41 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 80,255 shares of company stock worth $28,995,021 over the last quarter. Insiders own 11.90% 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.