William Blair Investment Management LLC Acquires New Shares in PTC Therapeutics, Inc. $PTCT

Key Points

• William Blair Investment Management acquired 1.72 million shares of PTC Therapeutics, worth approximately $140.5 million, giving it a 2.06% stake. Other institutional investors also increased their holdings.
• Insiders sold 205,343 shares valued at $16.8 million over the past 90 days, including sales by directors Michael Schmertzler and Mary L. Smith under pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 plans.
• Analysts maintain a generally positive outlook, with a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating and an average price target of $98.55. PTC recently reported quarterly EPS of $0.92 versus expectations of $0.24, while revenue rose 101.5% year over year to $360.5 million.

William Blair Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in PTC Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:PTCT - Free Report) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 1,722,688 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock, valued at approximately $140,520,000. William Blair Investment Management LLC owned about 2.06% of PTC Therapeutics as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of PTCT. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of PTC Therapeutics by 16.9% in the first quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,045 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $71,000 after acquiring an additional 151 shares during the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of PTC Therapeutics by 8.5% during the 1st quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 3,128 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock valued at $213,000 after purchasing an additional 244 shares during the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP increased its position in PTC Therapeutics by 63.8% during the 4th quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 634 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $48,000 after purchasing an additional 247 shares in the last quarter. Measured Wealth Private Client Group LLC increased its position in PTC Therapeutics by 5.6% during the 4th 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Evolve Private Wealth LLC lifted its stake in PTC Therapeutics by 5.2% in the 1st quarter. Evolve Private Wealth LLC now owns 6,122 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock valued at $417,000 after purchasing an additional 305 shares during the last quarter.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other PTC Therapeutics news, Director Michael Schmertzler sold 12,500 shares of PTC Therapeutics stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owned 1,374,094 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $100,748,572.08. The trade was a 0.90% decrease in their position. The sale 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, Director Mary L. Smith sold 15,834 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 9th. The shares were 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. This trade represents 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. Insiders sold a total of 205,343 shares of company stock valued at $16,774,704 over the last ninety days. 5.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have weighed in on PTCT. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of PTC Therapeutics from a "sell (d+)" rating to a "sell (d)" rating in a research report on Monday. Cantor Fitzgerald upped their price target on shares of PTC Therapeutics from $124.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, July 16th. Wall Street Zen downgraded PTC Therapeutics from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Saturday. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded PTC Therapeutics from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $76.00 to $85.00 in a research report on Wednesday, May 27th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada upped their target price 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, nine have given a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, PTC Therapeutics has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $98.55.

PTC Therapeutics Price Performance

PTCT opened at $69.82 on Friday. PTC Therapeutics, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $48.28 and a fifty-two week high of $90.87. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -120.38, a PEG ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 0.56. The company's 50 day moving average price is $77.62 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $72.35.

PTC Therapeutics (NASDAQ:PTCT - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $0.92 earnings per share (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 analysts' expectations 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% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted ($0.83) EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that PTC Therapeutics, Inc. will post 1.17 EPS for the current year.

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.

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