Protagonist Therapeutics (NASDAQ:PTGX) Upgraded at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Protagonist Therapeutics (NASDAQ:PTGX) from a buy rating to a strong-buy rating in a research note published on Saturday.

PTGX has been the topic of several other reports. UBS Group upgraded Protagonist Therapeutics to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, August 10th. Citigroup upped their price target on Protagonist Therapeutics from $130.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 6th. TD Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Protagonist Therapeutics in a report on Wednesday, July 1st. Citizens Jmp lifted their price objective on shares of Protagonist Therapeutics from $120.00 to $137.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of Protagonist Therapeutics from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $110.00 to $186.00 in a research note on Monday, August 10th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have given a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $140.53.

Protagonist Therapeutics Stock Performance

Shares of PTGX opened at $154.72 on Friday. Protagonist Therapeutics has a fifty-two week low of $54.50 and a fifty-two week high of $160.81. The company has a market capitalization of $10.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 150.22 and a beta of 1.78. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $135.54 and a 200-day simple moving average of $110.84.

Protagonist Therapeutics (NASDAQ:PTGX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The company reported $2.29 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.27 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $213.47 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $212.03 million. Protagonist Therapeutics had a return on equity of 12.03% and a net margin of 29.40%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up 3746.8% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Protagonist Therapeutics will post 4.22 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Protagonist Therapeutics

In other Protagonist Therapeutics news, Director William D. Waddill sold 9,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $117.94, for a total value of $1,061,460.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 7,825 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $922,880.50. This trade represents a 53.49% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Dinesh V. Ph D. Patel sold 65,761 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $149.11, for a total value of $9,805,622.71. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 523,478 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $78,055,804.58. This trade represents a 11.16% 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 127,000 shares of company stock valued at $17,818,139 in the last quarter. 5.19% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Protagonist Therapeutics

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Farther Finance Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Protagonist Therapeutics by 110.6% in the fourth quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 297 shares of the company’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 156 shares in the last quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund boosted its stake in shares of Protagonist Therapeutics by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund now owns 13,393 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,170,000 after acquiring an additional 193 shares in the last quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System grew its holdings in shares of Protagonist Therapeutics by 2.3% in the 4th quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System now owns 8,603 shares of the company’s stock worth $751,000 after acquiring an additional 196 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Protagonist Therapeutics by 7.8% in the 1st quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 2,760 shares of the company’s stock worth $291,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares during the period. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in Protagonist Therapeutics by 7.2% in the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,109 shares of the company’s stock valued at $381,000 after purchasing an additional 208 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.63% of the company’s stock.

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.