Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. Takes Position in Protagonist Therapeutics, Inc. $PTGX

Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. bought a new position in Protagonist Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:PTGX) in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 48,894 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,993,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of PTGX. Quantbot Technologies LP purchased a new stake in Protagonist Therapeutics in the 2nd quarter worth about $42,000. Keating Financial Advisory Services Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Protagonist Therapeutics in the second quarter worth approximately $30,000. Allworth Financial LP purchased a new stake in shares of Protagonist Therapeutics in the second quarter worth approximately $31,000. E Fund Management Co. Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Protagonist Therapeutics during the second quarter worth approximately $477,000. Finally, Eagle Health Investments LP acquired a new stake in shares of Protagonist Therapeutics during the second quarter worth approximately $30,439,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.63% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have weighed in on PTGX. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Protagonist Therapeutics from $130.00 to $175.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of Protagonist Therapeutics from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $110.00 to $186.00 in a research note on Monday, August 10th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on shares of Protagonist Therapeutics from $112.00 to $178.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, August 17th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Protagonist Therapeutics from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Saturday. Finally, Zacks Research lowered Protagonist Therapeutics from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, August 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $140.53.

Protagonist Therapeutics Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ PTGX opened at $154.32 on Monday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $134.70 and its 200-day simple moving average is $110.35. Protagonist Therapeutics, Inc. has a 52 week low of $54.50 and a 52 week high of $160.81. The firm has a market cap of $9.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 149.83 and a beta of 1.78.

Protagonist Therapeutics (NASDAQ:PTGX) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The company reported $2.29 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.27 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $213.47 million during 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 firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 3746.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Protagonist Therapeutics, Inc. will post 4.22 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Protagonist Therapeutics

In other news, Director William D. Waddill sold 9,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 23rd. The shares were 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 directly owned 7,825 shares in the company, valued at approximately $922,880.50. The trade was a 53.49% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 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 company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $149.11, for a total transaction of $9,805,622.71. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 523,478 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $78,055,804.58. This represents a 11.16% 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. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 127,000 shares of company stock worth $17,818,139. Corporate insiders own 5.19% 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.