William Blair Begins Coverage on uniQure (NASDAQ:QURE)

Stock analysts at William Blair initiated coverage on shares of uniQure (NASDAQ:QURE) in a report released on Wednesday. The firm set an “outperform” rating on the biotechnology company’s stock.

A number of other brokerages have also weighed in on QURE. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of uniQure from $60.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (e+)” rating on shares of uniQure in a research report on Friday, June 26th. HC Wainwright upped their price target on shares of uniQure from $50.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, June 29th. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price objective on shares of uniQure from $35.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, June 18th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on shares of uniQure from $14.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, June 18th. Fourteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $65.00.

uniQure Stock Performance

uniQure stock traded down $0.21 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $47.65. The stock had a trading volume of 438,755 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,364,963. The stock has a market cap of $3.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -11.87 and a beta of 0.94. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $44.50 and its two-hundred day moving average is $29.90. The company has a quick ratio of 10.01, a current ratio of 10.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. uniQure has a 1 year low of $8.73 and a 1 year high of $71.50.

uniQure (NASDAQ:QURE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The biotechnology company reported ($1.22) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.82) by ($0.40). uniQure had a negative return on equity of 111.96% and a negative net margin of 1,350.73%.The firm had revenue of $5.84 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.45 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted ($0.69) EPS. As a group, analysts predict that uniQure will post -3.74 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other uniQure news, insider Walid Abi-Saab sold 30,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $46.42, for a total value of $1,392,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 148,235 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,881,068.70. This trade represents a 16.83% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Jack Kaye sold 21,167 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $46.44, for a total transaction of $982,995.48. Following the transaction, the director owned 25,996 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,207,254.24. This trade represents a 44.88% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 385,584 shares of company stock worth $16,737,722. Insiders own 4.65% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On uniQure

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in uniQure by 107.3% in the 2nd quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 142,113 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $6,546,000 after acquiring an additional 73,566 shares during the last quarter. Kalehua Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of uniQure during the 1st quarter valued at about $4,760,000. Royal Bank of Canada grew its holdings in shares of uniQure by 26.0% during the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 107,888 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $1,763,000 after purchasing an additional 22,248 shares in the last quarter. UBS Group AG grew its holdings in shares of uniQure by 139.7% during the fourth quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 491,454 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $11,760,000 after purchasing an additional 286,465 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Voss Capital LP increased its position in shares of uniQure by 68.0% in the fourth quarter. Voss Capital LP now owns 210,000 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $5,025,000 after purchasing an additional 85,000 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 78.83% of the company’s stock.

uniQure Company Profile

uniQure N.V. is a biotechnology company focused on the development and commercialization of gene therapies for patients with severe medical needs. Using its proprietary adeno‐associated viral (AAV) vector platform, the company designs single‐dose treatments aimed at addressing the underlying genetic causes of disease rather than solely managing symptoms. Its most advanced program, Hemgenix® (etranacogene dezaparvovec), received regulatory approval in the United States and Europe for adult patients with hemophilia B, marking one of the first gene therapies for a bleeding disorder to reach the market.

Beyond hemophilia B, uniQure’s pipeline includes preclinical and clinical-stage candidates targeting rare and debilitating conditions such as aromatic l-amino acid decarboxylase (AADC) deficiency, Huntington’s disease, and Parkinson’s disease.