Protagonist Therapeutics (NASDAQ:PTGX) Trading 6.8% Higher Following Analyst Upgrade

Protagonist Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:PTGX) rose 6.8% during trading on Tuesday after Truist Financial raised their price target on the stock from $121.00 to $145.00. Truist Financial currently has a buy rating on the stock. Protagonist Therapeutics traded as high as $139.09 and last traded at $140.4710. 571,209 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 24% from the average daily volume of 751,343 shares. The stock had previously closed at $131.50.

Several other brokerages have also recently issued reports on PTGX. Wall Street Zen cut Protagonist Therapeutics from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, June 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Protagonist Therapeutics from $95.00 to $106.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, March 19th. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $110.00 price objective on shares of Protagonist Therapeutics in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Leerink Partners boosted their target price on shares of Protagonist Therapeutics from $107.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 19th. Finally, Johnson Rice reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Protagonist Therapeutics in a report on Wednesday, March 18th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Protagonist Therapeutics presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $116.93.

Insider Transactions at Protagonist Therapeutics

In other news, CEO Dinesh V. Ph D. Patel sold 75,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $100.12, for a total value of $7,509,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 523,478 shares in the company, valued at $52,410,617.36. This trade represents a 12.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director William D. Waddill sold 9,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $117.94, for a total transaction of $1,061,460.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 7,825 shares in the company, valued at $922,880.50. This represents a 53.49% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 162,880 shares of company stock worth $16,539,792 over the last ninety days. 5.19% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its position in shares of Protagonist Therapeutics by 140.7% during the 4th quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 2,649,981 shares of the company’s stock worth $231,355,000 after purchasing an additional 1,549,160 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in Protagonist Therapeutics by 66.2% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 3,171,423 shares of the company’s stock valued at $276,992,000 after buying an additional 1,262,977 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Protagonist Therapeutics by 27.2% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,413,690 shares of the company’s stock valued at $472,832,000 after buying an additional 1,156,461 shares during the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP purchased a new position in Protagonist Therapeutics during the third quarter worth $72,114,000. Finally, Commodore Capital LP purchased a new position in Protagonist Therapeutics during the second quarter worth $59,415,000. 98.63% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Protagonist Therapeutics Stock Up 6.6%

The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $107.09 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $96.70. The company has a market capitalization of $9.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -77.61 and a beta of 1.79.

Protagonist Therapeutics (NASDAQ:PTGX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 5th. The company reported $0.05 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.50) by $0.55. Protagonist Therapeutics had a negative return on equity of 17.76% and a negative net margin of 154.88%.The firm had revenue of $56.37 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11.70 million. As a group, research analysts forecast that Protagonist Therapeutics, Inc. will post 2.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

About Protagonist Therapeutics

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.