uniQure (NASDAQ:QURE) Shares Up 5.2% Following Analyst Upgrade

uniQure (NASDAQ:QURE) rose 5.2% during trading on Friday after The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on the stock from $9.00 to $20.00. The Goldman Sachs Group currently has a neutral rating on the stock. uniQure traded as high as $15.89 and last traded at $15.85. Approximately 460,962 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 72% from the average daily volume of 1,640,178 shares. The stock had previously closed at $15.06.

QURE has been the subject of several other reports. HC Wainwright reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $25.00 target price on shares of uniQure in a research note on Tuesday. StockNews.com raised shares of uniQure to a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday. Raymond James upgraded uniQure from an “outperform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $20.00 to $52.00 in a research note on Tuesday. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on shares of uniQure from $14.00 to $20.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Leerink Partners raised their target price on shares of uniQure from $26.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $32.14.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other uniQure news, CEO Matthew C. Kapusta sold 3,418 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $7.63, for a total value of $26,079.34. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 597,915 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,562,091.45. The trade was a 0.57 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 4.74% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in QURE. RTW Investments LP acquired a new position in uniQure in the third quarter valued at approximately $49,000. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of uniQure by 57.0% in the 3rd quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 10,093 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $50,000 after buying an additional 3,663 shares during the last quarter. Atria Investments Inc bought a new position in uniQure in the 3rd quarter valued at $53,000. Quarry LP purchased a new stake in uniQure during the third quarter worth about $58,000. Finally, Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of uniQure by 21.0% in the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 13,301 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $59,000 after purchasing an additional 2,306 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 78.83% of the company’s stock.

uniQure Stock Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $750.60 million, a P/E ratio of -3.10 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92, a current ratio of 6.51 and a quick ratio of 6.51. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $6.85 and a 200-day simple moving average of $6.28.

uniQure (NASDAQ:QURE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.91) EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.12) by $0.21. uniQure had a negative return on equity of 188.82% and a negative net margin of 837.80%. The firm had revenue of $2.29 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.73 million. On average, equities analysts forecast that uniQure will post -3.81 EPS for the current year.

uniQure Company Profile

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.