PTC Therapeutics (NASDAQ:PTCT) Shares Climb 4.7% – Should You Buy?

PTC Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:PTCT)’s stock price shot up 4.7% during trading on Monday. The stock traded as high as $65.75 and last traded at $65.60. Approximately 659,183 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 52% from the average daily volume of 1,381,305 shares. The stock had previously closed at $62.67.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Zacks Research lowered shares of PTC Therapeutics from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 6th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of PTC Therapeutics from $93.00 to $104.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 31st. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of PTC Therapeutics from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Saturday, September 19th. Citigroup raised PTC Therapeutics from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $75.00 to $108.00 in a research report on Tuesday, June 9th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald upped their target price on PTC Therapeutics from $130.00 to $137.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 22nd. 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 issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, PTC Therapeutics presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $99.08.

PTC Therapeutics Price Performance

The firm has a market cap of $5.49 billion, a PE ratio of -113.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 0.55. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $70.73 and a 200 day simple moving average of $72.11.

PTC Therapeutics (NASDAQ:PTCT) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $0.92 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.24 by $0.68. The firm had revenue of $360.52 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 was up 101.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned ($0.83) EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that PTC Therapeutics, Inc. will post 1.17 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, VP Mark Boulding sold 2,813 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.57, for a total value of $204,139.41. Following the sale, the vice president directly owned 105,272 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,639,589.04. The trade was a 2.60% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Mary L. Smith sold 15,834 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.00, for a total value of $1,425,060.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 21,813 shares in the company, valued at $1,963,170. The trade was a 42.06% decrease in their position. 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. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 128,256 shares of company stock valued at $10,260,965. Insiders own 5.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. boosted its holdings in PTC Therapeutics by 1.8% in the second quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 13,730 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $1,120,000 after acquiring an additional 237 shares in the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC bought a new position in shares of PTC Therapeutics during the second quarter valued at $211,000. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC purchased a new position in shares of PTC Therapeutics in the 2nd quarter worth about $193,000. Baird Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of PTC Therapeutics in the 2nd quarter worth about $219,000. Finally, Empirical Finance LLC bought a new position in PTC Therapeutics in the 2nd quarter worth about $753,000.

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.