PTC Therapeutics (NASDAQ:PTCT) Rating Lowered to “Hold” at Zacks Research

PTC Therapeutics (NASDAQ:PTCT) was downgraded by stock analysts at Zacks Research from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report issued on Thursday,Zacks.com reports.

PTCT has been the topic of a number of other reports. Weiss Ratings raised shares of PTC Therapeutics from a “sell (d)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research note on Friday, July 31st. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price objective on PTC Therapeutics from $82.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 7th. Cantor Fitzgerald boosted their target price on PTC Therapeutics from $124.00 to $130.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 16th. Jefferies Financial Group raised PTC Therapeutics from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $76.00 to $85.00 in a research report on Wednesday, May 27th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price target on PTC Therapeutics from $93.00 to $104.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 31st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have given a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, PTC Therapeutics presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $98.09.

PTC Therapeutics Stock Performance

PTC Therapeutics stock opened at $73.31 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $6.12 billion, a PE ratio of -126.40, a P/E/G ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.56. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $77.54 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $72.55. PTC Therapeutics has a twelve month low of $43.17 and a twelve month high of $90.87.

PTC Therapeutics (NASDAQ:PTCT) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $0.92 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.24 by $0.68. The company had revenue of $360.52 million during 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 quarter in the prior year, the firm earned ($0.83) EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that PTC Therapeutics will post 1.17 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at PTC Therapeutics

In related news, insider Neil Gregory Almstead sold 24,613 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 7th. The shares were 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 represents a 28.99% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Matthew B. Klein sold 12,572 shares of PTC Therapeutics stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.95, for a total transaction of $917,127.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 393,998 shares in the company, valued at $28,742,154.10. This trade represents a 3.09% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 205,414 shares of company stock valued at $16,774,162. 5.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On PTC Therapeutics

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in PTCT. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in PTC Therapeutics in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $1,139,089,000. Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its holdings in shares of PTC Therapeutics by 48.3% during the first quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 7,193,433 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $489,997,000 after buying an additional 2,342,101 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of PTC Therapeutics by 34.2% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,206,126 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $319,497,000 after buying an additional 1,071,343 shares during the last quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank lifted its holdings in shares of PTC Therapeutics by 27.5% during the fourth quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 4,138,215 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $314,339,000 after buying an additional 891,690 shares during the last quarter. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its position in shares of PTC Therapeutics by 4,013.1% in the fourth quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 828,662 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $62,945,000 after acquiring an additional 808,515 shares during the period.

PTC Therapeutics Company Profile

PTC Therapeutics, Inc is a biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery, development and commercialization of small molecule and biologic therapies for the treatment of rare genetic disorders. Since its founding in 1998, PTC has dedicated its efforts to addressing high unmet medical needs by targeting underlying genetic causes of disease. The company’s research platform emphasizes mechanisms such as nonsense suppression and RNA modulation, enabling the development of novel treatments for conditions with limited therapeutic options.

Among PTC’s approved products is Translarna (ataluren), a first-in-class therapy designed to treat nonsense mutation Duchenne muscular dystrophy in select markets.