Ameriprise Financial Inc. Lowers Position in uniQure (NASDAQ:QURE)

Ameriprise Financial Inc. decreased its position in uniQure (NASDAQ:QURE) by 38.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 531,830 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after selling 333,968 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. owned about 1.09% of uniQure worth $9,392,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in QURE. Avoro Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in uniQure in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $38,410,000. Boxer Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of uniQure in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $13,245,000. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of uniQure in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $9,473,000. Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of uniQure by 453.2% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 613,601 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $10,836,000 after buying an additional 502,684 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its position in shares of uniQure by 33.1% during the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,987,688 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $35,103,000 after purchasing an additional 494,726 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.83% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

QURE has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $24.00 target price on shares of uniQure in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Guggenheim reissued a “buy” rating and set a $28.00 price objective on shares of uniQure in a report on Monday, May 12th. Chardan Capital reissued a “buy” rating and set a $38.00 price objective on shares of uniQure in a report on Monday, May 12th. HC Wainwright reissued a “buy” rating and set a $70.00 price target on shares of uniQure in a research note on Monday, April 21st. Finally, StockNews.com raised uniQure to a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $37.82.

Insider Activity

In other uniQure news, CEO Matthew C. Kapusta sold 6,717 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $11.32, for a total value of $76,036.44. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 580,795 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,574,599.40. The trade was a 1.14% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Christian Klemt sold 14,341 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $10.70, for a total value of $153,448.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 152,372 shares in the company, valued at $1,630,380.40. This represents a 8.60% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 90,830 shares of company stock worth $961,401. 4.74% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

uniQure Stock Up 4.1%

QURE stock opened at $15.31 on Wednesday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $12.37 and its 200-day simple moving average is $12.45. The firm has a market capitalization of $838.62 million, a PE ratio of -3.09 and a beta of 0.10. uniQure has a 12 month low of $3.73 and a 12 month high of $19.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92, a current ratio of 6.51 and a quick ratio of 6.51.

uniQure (NASDAQ:QURE) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, May 9th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.82) EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.07) by $0.25. uniQure had a negative return on equity of 188.82% and a negative net margin of 837.80%. The business had revenue of $1.57 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.93 million. Equities analysts expect that uniQure will post -3.75 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.