Wall Street Zen Downgrades uniQure (NASDAQ:QURE) to Sell

uniQure (NASDAQ:QURE) was downgraded by equities researchers at Wall Street Zen from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report issued on Monday.

Several other equities research analysts have also commented on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price target on shares of uniQure from $56.00 to $38.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, November 4th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on shares of uniQure from $30.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 24th. HC Wainwright reduced their price target on uniQure from $110.00 to $70.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, November 4th. William Blair reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of uniQure in a research note on Tuesday, November 11th. Finally, Mizuho boosted their price objective on shares of uniQure from $30.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, September 25th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $63.09.

uniQure Stock Down 4.5%

Shares of NASDAQ QURE opened at $20.78 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 7.12, a quick ratio of 7.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23. uniQure has a 12-month low of $7.76 and a 12-month high of $71.50. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $43.06 and its 200-day moving average price is $26.33. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -4.73 and a beta of 0.59.

uniQure (NASDAQ:QURE) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 10th. The biotechnology company reported ($1.38) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.85) by ($0.53). The company had revenue of $3.70 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.46 million. uniQure had a negative return on equity of 373.73% and a negative net margin of 1,492.90%. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that uniQure will post -3.75 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Matthew C. Kapusta sold 226,316 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.46, for a total transaction of $9,383,061.36. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 651,454 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $27,009,282.84. This represents a 25.78% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Jack Kaye sold 38,810 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $30.34, for a total value of $1,177,495.40. Following the sale, the director owned 20,439 shares in the company, valued at $620,119.26. This trade represents a 65.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 314,560 shares of company stock worth $12,362,568 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 4.79% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in uniQure by 3.7% in the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 279,999 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $2,968,000 after acquiring an additional 10,019 shares in the last quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. acquired a new stake in uniQure in the 1st quarter worth about $3,218,000. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC increased its stake in uniQure by 27.5% during the 1st quarter. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC now owns 400,785 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $4,248,000 after buying an additional 86,372 shares in the last quarter. Aberdeen Group plc raised its holdings in shares of uniQure by 46.8% during the first quarter. Aberdeen Group plc now owns 2,215,551 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $23,485,000 after acquiring an additional 706,216 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Rafferty Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of uniQure in the first quarter valued at approximately $875,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.83% of the company’s stock.

About uniQure

uniQure N.V. develops treatments for patients suffering from rare and other devastating diseases. It offers HEMGENIX that has completed Phase III HOPE-B pivotal trial for the treatment of hemophilia B. The company also develops AMT-130, a gene therapy that is in Phase I/II clinical study for the treatment of Huntington's disease.