Eversept Partners LP Makes New $4.63 Million Investment in Protagonist Therapeutics, Inc. $PTGX

Eversept Partners LP bought a new position in shares of Protagonist Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:PTGX) in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund bought 52,961 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,626,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Farallon Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Protagonist Therapeutics by 0.4% during the third quarter. Farallon Capital Management LLC now owns 6,196,006 shares of the company’s stock worth $411,601,000 after buying an additional 24,000 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Protagonist Therapeutics by 27.2% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,413,690 shares of the company’s stock worth $472,832,000 after buying an additional 1,156,461 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its stake in Protagonist Therapeutics by 18.5% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,207,543 shares of the company’s stock worth $177,281,000 after buying an additional 500,924 shares during the period. UBS Group AG boosted its stake in Protagonist Therapeutics by 46.1% during the fourth quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 2,770,021 shares of the company’s stock worth $241,934,000 after buying an additional 874,013 shares during the period. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in Protagonist Therapeutics by 83.9% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,908,446 shares of the company’s stock worth $126,778,000 after buying an additional 870,708 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.63% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PTGX has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Protagonist Therapeutics from $113.00 to $119.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 19th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Protagonist Therapeutics in a research report on Friday, May 15th. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on shares of Protagonist Therapeutics in a research report on Thursday, May 21st. They set an “outperform” rating and a $135.00 price target on the stock. Citizens Jmp increased their price target on shares of Protagonist Therapeutics from $120.00 to $137.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $121.00 price target on shares of Protagonist Therapeutics in a research report on Wednesday, March 18th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Protagonist Therapeutics presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $115.21.

Insider Buying and Selling at Protagonist Therapeutics

In related news, Director William D. Waddill sold 9,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $107.68, for a total value of $969,120.00. Following the sale, the director owned 7,825 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $842,596. This trade represents a 53.49% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO Asif Ali sold 1,750 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $105.47, for a total transaction of $184,572.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 59,003 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,223,046.41. This trade represents a 2.88% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. In the last three months, insiders have sold 272,345 shares of company stock valued at $27,676,386. Corporate insiders own 5.19% of the company’s stock.

Protagonist Therapeutics Stock Performance

Shares of PTGX opened at $111.44 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.17 billion, a PE ratio of -61.57 and a beta of 1.85. Protagonist Therapeutics, Inc. has a 1 year low of $49.38 and a 1 year high of $113.66. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $102.19 and its 200-day simple moving average is $93.72.

Protagonist Therapeutics (NASDAQ:PTGX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The company reported $0.05 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.50) by $0.55. The business had revenue of $56.37 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11.70 million. Protagonist Therapeutics had a negative net margin of 154.88% and a negative return on equity of 17.76%. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Protagonist Therapeutics, Inc. will post 2.93 earnings per share for the current year.

Protagonist Therapeutics Profile

Protagonist Therapeutics, Inc (NASDAQ: PTGX) is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the development of novel, orally administered peptide-based therapies for immune-mediated and other serious diseases. The company leverages its proprietary Peptide 2.0 platform to design peptides that target G protein–coupled receptors and cytokine receptors, with the goal of combining the potency of biologics with the convenience of oral administration. Protagonist’s approach aims to address unmet medical needs in areas where injectable therapies have been the standard of care.

Among its lead programs is PTG-100, an oral ?4?7 integrin antagonist intended to block leukocyte migration to the gut in ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease.