PTC Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:PTCT) Short Interest Update

Key Points

• Short interest fell 43.2% to 9.83 million shares as of July 15, though roughly 12.5% of PTC Therapeutics’ shares remain sold short.
• Analyst sentiment is broadly positive: the stock has a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating and an average price target of $93.83, above its reported trading price of $74.51.
• PTC Therapeutics beat quarterly expectations, reporting a loss of $0.03 per share versus the anticipated $0.45 loss, while revenue rose 43.5% year over year to $272.55 million. Insiders sold nearly $16.35 million of stock over the past 90 days.

PTC Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:PTCT - Get Free Report) saw a significant decrease in short interest in the month of July. As of July 15th, there was short interest totaling 9,833,980 shares, a decrease of 43.2% from the June 30th total of 17,315,032 shares. Approximately 12.5% of the company's shares are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 2,069,373 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 4.8 days.

Insider Transactions at PTC Therapeutics

In related news, insider Neil Gregory Almstead sold 2,464 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.25, for a total value of $222,376.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 60,299 shares of the company's stock, valued at $5,441,984.75. This trade represents a 3.93% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, VP Mark Elliott Boulding sold 5,079 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.08, for a total value of $432,121.32. Following the transaction, the vice president directly owned 105,272 shares of the company's stock, valued at $8,956,541.76. The trade was a 4.60% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 198,662 shares of company stock worth $16,347,994. Company insiders own 5.50% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Handelsbanken Fonder AB grew its stake in shares of PTC Therapeutics by 15.1% in the second quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 29,000 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $2,366,000 after acquiring an additional 3,800 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in shares of PTC Therapeutics by 58.1% during the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,453 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock valued at $119,000 after acquiring an additional 534 shares in the last quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of PTC Therapeutics in the 2nd quarter worth about $308,000. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC purchased a new position in shares of PTC Therapeutics in the 2nd quarter worth about $81,000. Finally, Defilade Capital Management L.P. bought a new position in PTC Therapeutics in the 1st quarter worth about $25,628,000.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently commented on the company. Zacks Research raised PTC Therapeutics from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 7th. Raymond James Financial started coverage on shares of PTC Therapeutics in a research report on Friday, April 10th. They set an "outperform" rating and a $108.00 price objective on the stock. TD Cowen upgraded shares of PTC Therapeutics from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $75.00 to $90.00 in a report on Friday, May 8th. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of PTC Therapeutics from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and raised their target price for the stock from $76.00 to $85.00 in a research report on Wednesday, May 27th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and set a $94.00 target price on shares of PTC Therapeutics in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, PTC Therapeutics presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $93.83.

PTC Therapeutics Stock Performance

Shares of PTCT traded down $0.88 on Wednesday, reaching $74.51. The stock had a trading volume of 465,123 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,455,037. PTC Therapeutics has a 12-month low of $43.17 and a 12-month high of $90.87. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -32.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.60 and a beta of 0.53. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $77.40 and a 200-day simple moving average of $72.81.

PTC Therapeutics (NASDAQ:PTCT - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.03) earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.45) by $0.42. The company had revenue of $272.55 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $217.42 million. PTC Therapeutics had a negative return on equity of 362.45% and a negative net margin of 22.58%.The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 43.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $10.04 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that PTC Therapeutics will post 0.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.

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