Wall Street Zen Upgrades uniQure (NASDAQ:QURE) to “Hold”

uniQure (NASDAQ:QURE) was upgraded by equities researchers at Wall Street Zen from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report issued on Saturday.

A number of other brokerages have also weighed in on QURE. Cantor Fitzgerald raised uniQure from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $61.00 target price for the company in a research report on Wednesday, June 17th. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (e+)” rating on shares of uniQure in a report on Friday, June 26th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $28.00 price target on uniQure in a research note on Tuesday, May 5th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on uniQure from $60.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Finally, Mizuho upped their price target on shares of uniQure from $35.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 25th. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $65.00.

uniQure Stock Performance

QURE stock opened at $48.62 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $41.26 and its 200 day simple moving average is $27.87. 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 has a 12-month low of $8.73 and a 12-month high of $71.50. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.37 billion, a PE ratio of -12.12 and a beta of 0.92.

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). The business had revenue of $5.84 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.45 million. uniQure had a negative return on equity of 111.96% and a negative net margin of 1,350.73%.During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned ($0.69) EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that uniQure will post -3.74 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Matthew C. Kapusta sold 164,429 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $44.32, for a total transaction of $7,287,493.28. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 558,810 shares in the company, valued at approximately $24,766,459.20. This represents a 22.74% 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. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Madhavan Balachandran sold 11,685 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.06, for a total transaction of $526,526.10. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 43,254 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,949,025.24. The trade was a 21.27% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 388,229 shares of company stock worth $16,817,099 over the last ninety days. 4.65% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On uniQure

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Woodline Partners LP raised its holdings in shares of uniQure by 25.0% during the 1st quarter. Woodline Partners LP now owns 175,806 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $1,864,000 after acquiring an additional 35,175 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc purchased a new position in shares of uniQure in the second quarter valued at $497,000. Marshall Wace LLP increased its position in uniQure by 276.5% in the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 222,979 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $3,108,000 after purchasing an additional 163,749 shares during the last quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System bought a new stake in uniQure in the second quarter worth $540,000. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its stake in uniQure by 38.6% during the second quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 761,948 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $10,622,000 after purchasing an additional 212,218 shares in the last quarter. 78.83% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.