Leerink Partners Begins Coverage on PTC Therapeutics (NASDAQ:PTCT)

Stock analysts at Leerink Partners assumed coverage on shares of PTC Therapeutics (NASDAQ:PTCT) in a note issued to investors on Monday. The brokerage set an “outperform” rating and a $98.00 price target on the biopharmaceutical company’s stock. Leerink Partners’ price objective would indicate a potential upside of 46.73% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other analysts also recently issued reports on PTCT. Citigroup upgraded shares of PTC Therapeutics from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $75.00 to $108.00 in a report on Tuesday, June 9th. Cantor Fitzgerald raised their target price on PTC Therapeutics from $124.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 16th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on PTC Therapeutics from $93.00 to $104.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, July 31st. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of PTC Therapeutics from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $76.00 to $85.00 in a report on Wednesday, May 27th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price objective on PTC Therapeutics from $82.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have assigned a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, PTC Therapeutics currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $98.50.

PTC Therapeutics Trading Up 1.1%

Shares of PTCT traded up $0.73 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $66.79. 279,436 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,373,529. PTC Therapeutics has a 52 week low of $57.74 and a 52 week high of $90.87. The company has a market cap of $5.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -115.16, a PEG ratio of 2.04 and a beta of 0.55. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $74.36 and a 200 day simple moving average of $72.19.

PTC Therapeutics (NASDAQ:PTCT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 30th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $0.92 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.24 by $0.68. The firm had revenue of $360.52 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $298.63 million. PTC Therapeutics had a negative net margin of 3.80% and a negative return on equity of 362.45%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 101.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted ($0.83) EPS. Analysts predict that PTC Therapeutics will post 1.17 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Michael Schmertzler sold 12,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.32, for a total transaction of $916,500.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 1,374,094 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $100,748,572.08. This represents a 0.90% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Neil Almstead sold 24,613 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $88.89, for a total transaction of $2,187,849.57. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 60,299 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,359,978.11. This trade represents a 28.99% 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 have sold 206,566 shares of company stock valued at $16,769,079 over the last 90 days. 5.30% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On PTC Therapeutics

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Tidal Investments LLC bought a new position in shares of PTC Therapeutics during the second quarter valued at approximately $211,000. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC purchased a new stake in PTC Therapeutics during the second quarter worth $193,000. Baird Financial Group Inc. purchased a new stake in PTC Therapeutics during the second quarter worth $219,000. Empirical Finance LLC bought a new stake in PTC Therapeutics during the 2nd quarter valued at $753,000. Finally, Nykredit A S purchased a new position in shares of PTC Therapeutics in the 2nd quarter valued at $263,000.

PTC Therapeutics Company Profile

PTC Therapeutics, Inc is a biopharmaceutical company focused on discovering, developing and commercializing medicines for rare diseases. The company uses technologies involving RNA biology, gene therapy and small-molecule drug discovery to address conditions with limited treatment options, including rare neurological and metabolic disorders.

PTC’s commercial portfolio has included Translarna (ataluren), an investigational treatment in some markets for Duchenne muscular dystrophy associated with a nonsense mutation, and Emflaza (deflazacort), a corticosteroid approved in the United States for Duchenne muscular dystrophy.