PTC Therapeutics (NASDAQ:PTCT) Announces Share Repurchase Program

PTC Therapeutics (NASDAQ:PTCT) declared that its board has approved a stock buyback program on Tuesday, November 3rd, RTT News reports. The company plans to repurchase $500 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the biopharmaceutical company to buy up to 9.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

PTC Therapeutics Stock Performance

PTC Therapeutics stock opened at $65.67 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $64.89 and a 200-day moving average price of $70.60. PTC Therapeutics has a 12-month low of $58.80 and a 12-month high of $90.87.

PTC Therapeutics (NASDAQ:PTCT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 29th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.62) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.14 by ($0.76). The company had revenue of $357.81 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $306.43 million. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 69.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.20 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that PTC Therapeutics will post 0.60 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on PTCT shares. Citigroup upped their price objective on PTC Therapeutics from $108.00 to $109.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday. Zacks Research lowered PTC Therapeutics from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 6th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on PTC Therapeutics from $93.00 to $104.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, July 31st. TD Cowen boosted their target price on PTC Therapeutics from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 30th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on PTC Therapeutics from $109.00 to $112.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 30th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have given a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, PTC Therapeutics has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $99.23.

Insider Activity

In other news, VP Mark Boulding sold 2,813 shares of the company’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 transaction of $204,139.41. Following the transaction, the vice president owned 105,272 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,639,589.04. This represents a 2.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Michael Schmertzler sold 12,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.94, for a total value of $911,750.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 1,349,094 shares in the company, valued at approximately $98,402,916.36. The trade was a 0.92% decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 67,078 shares of company stock valued at $4,616,538. 5.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

PTC Therapeutics Company Profile

PTC Therapeutics, Inc is a biopharmaceutical company focused on discovering, developing and commercializing medicines for rare diseases. Its research programs include small-molecule treatments, gene therapies and other approaches designed to address conditions with limited or no available treatment options.

The company’s commercial portfolio has included Emflaza (deflazacort), a corticosteroid approved in the United States to treat Duchenne muscular dystrophy, and Upstaza (eladocagene exuparvovec), a gene therapy authorized in the European Union for aromatic L-amino acid decarboxylase deficiency.