Short Interest in United Therapeutics Co. (NASDAQ:UTHR) Increases By 18.8%

United Therapeutics Co. (NASDAQ:UTHR) saw a significant increase in short interest in February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 2,460,000 shares, an increase of 18.8% from the February 13th total of 2,070,000 shares. Currently, 5.6% of the company’s stock are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 403,500 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 6.1 days.

United Therapeutics Stock Up 1.5 %

Shares of UTHR stock opened at $318.85 on Thursday. United Therapeutics has a 12 month low of $221.53 and a 12 month high of $417.82. The firm has a market cap of $14.32 billion, a PE ratio of 14.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 0.64. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $347.20 and a 200-day moving average of $357.65.

United Therapeutics (NASDAQ:UTHR) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 26th. The biotechnology company reported $6.19 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.10 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $735.90 million during 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 period in the prior year, the company posted $4.36 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that United Therapeutics will post 24.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have issued reports on UTHR. UBS Group upped their target price on United Therapeutics from $415.00 to $475.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. StockNews.com cut United Therapeutics from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, HC Wainwright reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $425.00 target price on shares of United Therapeutics in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $388.25.

Insider Buying and Selling at United Therapeutics

In other United Therapeutics news, Director Nilda Mesa sold 255 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $355.77, for a total transaction of $90,721.35. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 5,528 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,966,696.56. This represents a 4.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, COO Michael Benkowitz sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $371.05, for a total value of $3,710,500.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 2,577 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $956,195.85. The trade was a 79.51 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 90,255 shares of company stock worth $32,614,521 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 11.90% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. acquired a new position in shares of United Therapeutics in the fourth quarter valued at $25,000. Brooklyn Investment Group acquired a new position in shares of United Therapeutics in the third quarter valued at $33,000. Dunhill Financial LLC raised its stake in shares of United Therapeutics by 100.0% in the fourth quarter. Dunhill Financial LLC now owns 100 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. State of Wyoming acquired a new position in shares of United Therapeutics in the fourth quarter valued at $62,000. Finally, Millstone Evans Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of United Therapeutics in the fourth quarter valued at $67,000. 94.08% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

United Therapeutics Company 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.