uniQure (NASDAQ:QURE) Stock Falls 5.5% After Analyst Downgrade

uniQure N.V. (NASDAQ:QURE)’s share price traded down 5.5% during mid-day trading on Tuesday after Barclays downgraded the stock from an overweight rating to an equal weight rating. Barclays now has a $28.00 price target on the stock, down from their previous price target of $60.00. uniQure traded as low as $21.84 and last traded at $21.5470. 260,059 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 89% from the average daily volume of 2,454,204 shares. The stock had previously closed at $22.80.

A number of other brokerages have also recently weighed in on QURE. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price target on uniQure from $46.00 to $31.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, September 30th. Royal Bank Of Canada reduced their price objective on shares of uniQure from $65.00 to $48.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, October 2nd. Leerink Partners raised their target price on shares of uniQure from $36.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, June 18th. Mizuho lifted their target price on shares of uniQure from $35.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 25th. Finally, William Blair upgraded shares of uniQure to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 23rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have issued a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $53.73.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On uniQure

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of QURE. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of uniQure by 107.3% in the second quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 142,113 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $6,546,000 after purchasing an additional 73,566 shares in the last quarter. Royal Bank of Canada grew its position in uniQure by 26.0% during the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 107,888 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $1,763,000 after purchasing an additional 22,248 shares in the last quarter. Kalehua Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in uniQure in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $4,760,000. Voss Capital LP increased its stake in uniQure by 68.0% in the 4th quarter. Voss Capital LP now owns 210,000 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $5,025,000 after buying an additional 85,000 shares during the period. Finally, Orbimed Advisors LLC lifted its position in uniQure by 189.7% in the 1st quarter. Orbimed Advisors LLC now owns 2,136,149 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $34,926,000 after buying an additional 1,398,749 shares in the last quarter. 78.83% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

uniQure Trading Up 0.3%

The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $42.38 and its 200-day simple moving average is $33.62. The company has a market cap of $1.61 billion, a PE ratio of -5.77 and a beta of 1.06. The company has a current ratio of 10.01, a quick ratio of 10.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15.

uniQure (NASDAQ:QURE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The biotechnology company reported ($1.22) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.82) by ($0.40). uniQure had a negative net margin of 1,350.73% and a negative return on equity of 111.96%. The company had revenue of $5.84 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.45 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned ($0.69) earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that uniQure N.V. will post -3.82 EPS for the current fiscal year.

About uniQure

uniQure N.V. is a biotechnology company focused on developing gene therapies intended to treat serious and potentially life-threatening diseases. The company uses adeno-associated virus (AAV) delivery technology to introduce genetic material into patients’ cells, with the goal of addressing the underlying causes of disease through a single administration.

uniQure’s lead commercial product, Hemgenix (etranacogene dezaparvovec), is a gene therapy for adults with hemophilia B who use factor IX replacement therapy.