uniQure (NASDAQ:QURE) Trading Down 8.7% – Here’s Why

uniQure N.V. (NASDAQ:QURE) shares fell 8.7% during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The company traded as low as $27.63 and last traded at $27.14. 722,754 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 68% from the average session volume of 2,231,242 shares. The stock had previously closed at $29.71.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have commented on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price target on shares of uniQure from $56.00 to $38.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, November 4th. Chardan Capital reissued a “buy” rating and set a $53.00 target price on shares of uniQure in a report on Tuesday, November 11th. Leerink Partners cut their target price on uniQure from $68.00 to $60.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, November 10th. UBS Group set a $95.00 price target on uniQure in a research report on Thursday, September 25th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of uniQure in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have issued a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $64.42.

uniQure Price Performance

The company has a market cap of $1.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -6.92 and a beta of 0.59. The company has a current ratio of 9.98, a quick ratio of 9.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.53. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $43.79 and a 200 day moving average price of $25.05.

uniQure (NASDAQ:QURE) last announced its 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). uniQure had a negative return on equity of 1,010.74% and a negative net margin of 1,387.98%.The company had revenue of $3.70 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.46 million. As a group, research analysts expect that uniQure N.V. will post -3.75 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Matthew C. Kapusta sold 226,316 shares of uniQure stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.46, for a total value of $9,383,061.36. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 651,454 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $27,009,282.84. This trade represents a 25.78% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Robert Gut sold 31,434 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $27.26, for a total transaction of $856,890.84. Following the sale, the director owned 40,145 shares in the company, valued at $1,094,352.70. This represents a 43.92% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last three months, insiders have sold 314,560 shares of company stock valued at $12,362,568. Corporate insiders own 4.79% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of uniQure

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of QURE. Private Trust Co. NA purchased a new stake in uniQure in the 3rd quarter worth about $28,000. Jones Financial Companies Lllp increased its holdings in shares of uniQure by 509.0% in the 3rd quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 609 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 509 shares during the period. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC increased its holdings in shares of uniQure by 358.0% in the 2nd quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 7,085 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $99,000 after purchasing an additional 5,538 shares during the period. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS purchased a new stake in shares of uniQure in the second quarter worth approximately $117,000. Finally, Knott David M Jr acquired a new stake in shares of uniQure during the third quarter worth approximately $117,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.