Protagonist Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:PTGX) Receives Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Shares of Protagonist Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:PTGX) have been given an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the thirteen analysts that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, ten have given a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $89.6154.

Several brokerages recently issued reports on PTGX. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Protagonist Therapeutics from $68.00 to $81.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 7th. BMO Capital Markets restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Protagonist Therapeutics in a research note on Monday, October 13th. Wedbush raised their target price on Protagonist Therapeutics from $70.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 28th. Johnson Rice set a $112.00 price target on shares of Protagonist Therapeutics in a report on Monday, October 13th. Finally, HC Wainwright increased their price objective on shares of Protagonist Therapeutics from $80.00 to $117.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO Asif Ali sold 46,203 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $83.13, for a total transaction of $3,840,855.39. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 60,320 shares in the company, valued at $5,014,401.60. This trade represents a 43.37% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Dinesh V. Ph D. Patel sold 34,438 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $82.48, for a total value of $2,840,446.24. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 580,505 shares in the company, valued at approximately $47,880,052.40. This represents a 5.60% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 165,167 shares of company stock worth $13,732,039 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 4.90% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of PTGX. Farallon Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Protagonist Therapeutics by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. Farallon Capital Management LLC now owns 6,196,006 shares of the company’s stock valued at $411,601,000 after purchasing an additional 24,000 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted 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 purchasing an additional 1,156,461 shares during the last quarter. BVF Inc. IL boosted its position in Protagonist Therapeutics by 24.7% in the second quarter. BVF Inc. IL now owns 3,211,041 shares of the company’s stock valued at $177,474,000 after buying an additional 636,026 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew 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 last quarter. Finally, UBS Group AG increased its holdings in shares of 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 in the last quarter. 98.63% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Protagonist Therapeutics Price Performance

Shares of Protagonist Therapeutics stock opened at $81.80 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $5.11 billion, a PE ratio of 131.94 and a beta of 2.26. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $86.26 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $72.83. Protagonist Therapeutics has a fifty-two week low of $33.70 and a fifty-two week high of $96.54.

Protagonist Therapeutics (NASDAQ:PTGX) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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). Protagonist Therapeutics had a return on equity of 6.86% and a net margin of 21.94%.The company had revenue of $4.71 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.41 million. Analysts expect that Protagonist Therapeutics will post 2.43 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 α4β7 integrin antagonist intended to block leukocyte migration to the gut in ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease.