Raymond James Financial Begins Coverage on PTC Therapeutics (NASDAQ:PTCT)

Stock analysts at Raymond James Financial started coverage on shares of PTC Therapeutics (NASDAQ:PTCT) in a research report issued to clients and investors on Friday, MarketBeat.com reports. The firm set an “outperform” rating and a $108.00 price target on the biopharmaceutical company’s stock. Raymond James Financial’s price target indicates a potential upside of 57.23% from the stock’s current price.

PTCT has been the topic of several other reports. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of PTC Therapeutics from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, February 21st. Barclays reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $120.00 price objective on shares of PTC Therapeutics in a report on Monday, February 23rd. Jefferies Financial Group lowered shares of PTC Therapeutics from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $91.00 to $76.00 in a report on Monday, March 30th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of PTC Therapeutics from $93.00 to $86.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 20th. Finally, Bank of America cut their price objective on shares of PTC Therapeutics from $97.00 to $93.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 20th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, PTC Therapeutics currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $84.40.

PTC Therapeutics Stock Performance

PTC Therapeutics stock opened at $68.69 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $68.46 and a 200-day moving average price of $71.36. PTC Therapeutics has a fifty-two week low of $35.95 and a fifty-two week high of $87.50. The company has a market capitalization of $5.69 billion, a PE ratio of 8.87 and a beta of 0.55.

PTC Therapeutics (NASDAQ:PTCT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 19th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($1.67) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.21) by ($1.46). PTC Therapeutics had a net margin of 39.44% and a negative return on equity of 362.45%. The company had revenue of $164.68 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $281.45 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted ($0.85) EPS. The business’s revenue was down 22.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that PTC Therapeutics will post -4.52 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other PTC Therapeutics news, EVP Lee Scott Golden sold 10,000 shares of PTC Therapeutics stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.38, for a total value of $633,800.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 79,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,066,850.72. The trade was a 11.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, VP Mark Elliott Boulding sold 3,081 shares of PTC Therapeutics stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.36, for a total transaction of $213,698.16. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president directly owned 108,231 shares in the company, valued at $7,506,902.16. This represents a 2.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 124,666 shares of company stock valued at $8,513,116. 5.50% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On PTC Therapeutics

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in PTC Therapeutics by 101.3% in the third quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 469 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 236 shares during the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP grew its holdings in PTC Therapeutics by 63.8% in the fourth quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 634 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $48,000 after purchasing an additional 247 shares during the last quarter. Optiver Holding B.V. grew its holdings in PTC Therapeutics by 96.5% in the third quarter. Optiver Holding B.V. now owns 507 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 249 shares during the last quarter. Measured Wealth Private Client Group LLC grew its holdings in PTC Therapeutics by 5.6% in the fourth quarter. Measured Wealth Private Client Group LLC now owns 4,963 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $377,000 after purchasing an additional 265 shares during the last quarter. Finally, IFP Advisors Inc grew its holdings in PTC Therapeutics by 68.1% in the third quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 765 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $47,000 after purchasing an additional 310 shares during the last quarter.

About PTC Therapeutics

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.