Texas Permanent School Fund Corp Makes New $519,000 Investment in Protagonist Therapeutics, Inc. $PTGX

Texas Permanent School Fund Corp purchased a new stake in Protagonist Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:PTGX) in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm purchased 9,389 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $519,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of PTGX. FNY Investment Advisers LLC purchased a new position in shares of Protagonist Therapeutics during the 2nd quarter worth about $27,000. Bessemer Group Inc. increased its position in Protagonist Therapeutics by 171.0% during the second quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 504 shares of the company’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 318 shares during the last quarter. CWM LLC increased its position in Protagonist Therapeutics by 201.5% during the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 609 shares of the company’s stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 407 shares during the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC raised its stake in Protagonist Therapeutics by 141.7% during the first quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,211 shares of the company’s stock worth $59,000 after purchasing an additional 710 shares during the period. Finally, Osaic Holdings Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Protagonist Therapeutics by 79.5% in the 2nd quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 1,185 shares of the company’s stock valued at $65,000 after purchasing an additional 525 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.63% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Leerink Partnrs raised Protagonist Therapeutics to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 12th. HC Wainwright restated a “buy” rating and issued a $80.00 price objective on shares of Protagonist Therapeutics in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Protagonist Therapeutics from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a report on Wednesday. BTIG Research reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $82.00 price objective on shares of Protagonist Therapeutics in a research note on Tuesday, October 28th. Finally, Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Protagonist Therapeutics from $88.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 17th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have issued a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $85.08.

Protagonist Therapeutics Trading Down 0.1%

NASDAQ PTGX opened at $88.78 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $5.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 143.20 and a beta of 2.19. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $84.46 and its 200-day simple moving average is $67.53. Protagonist Therapeutics, Inc. has a 52 week low of $33.70 and a 52 week high of $96.54.

Protagonist Therapeutics (NASDAQ:PTGX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 6th. The company reported ($0.62) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.59) by ($0.03). The firm had revenue of $4.71 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.41 million. Protagonist Therapeutics had a return on equity of 6.86% and a net margin of 21.94%. On average, research analysts expect that Protagonist Therapeutics, Inc. will post 2.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Protagonist Therapeutics news, Director William D. Waddill sold 12,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.62, for a total transaction of $979,440.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 5,130 shares in the company, valued at $418,710.60. This trade represents a 70.05% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 4.90% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Protagonist Therapeutics Company 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 α4β7 integrin antagonist intended to block leukocyte migration to the gut in ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease.