Protagonist Therapeutics (NASDAQ:PTGX) Downgraded by Wall Street Zen to Buy

Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Protagonist Therapeutics (NASDAQ:PTGX) from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a research note issued to investors on Saturday morning,Wall Street Zen reports.

A number of other research firms have also recently issued reports on PTGX. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded 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 report on Monday, August 10th. UBS Group upgraded Protagonist Therapeutics to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, August 10th. Citigroup lifted their target price on Protagonist Therapeutics from $175.00 to $182.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, August 31st. Wolfe Research reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Protagonist Therapeutics in a research note on Monday, August 31st. Finally, Zacks Research cut shares of Protagonist Therapeutics from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, August 7th. Seventeen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $147.13.

Protagonist Therapeutics Trading Up 2.7%

PTGX stock opened at $143.73 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $9.30 billion, a PE ratio of 139.55 and a beta of 1.53. Protagonist Therapeutics has a 12 month low of $65.75 and a 12 month high of $160.81. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $145.64 and a 200 day moving average price of $123.68.

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

Insider Activity at Protagonist Therapeutics

In other Protagonist Therapeutics news, CFO Asif Ali sold 58,629 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $141.78, for a total value of $8,312,419.62. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 59,003 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,365,445.34. This represents a 49.84% decrease in their position. 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 stock in a transaction on Monday, August 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $149.11, for a total value of $9,805,622.71. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 523,478 shares in the company, valued at $78,055,804.58. The trade was 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. In the last three months, insiders sold 283,629 shares of company stock worth $41,443,786. 5.19% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Protagonist Therapeutics

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in shares of Protagonist Therapeutics by 13.2% during the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,518 shares of the company’s stock worth $496,000 after purchasing an additional 409 shares in the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Protagonist Therapeutics by 442.5% in the 3rd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 2,398 shares of the company’s stock valued at $338,000 after acquiring an additional 1,956 shares during the period. Engineers Gate Manager LP purchased a new position in Protagonist Therapeutics in the 2nd quarter worth $536,000. Arizona State Retirement System raised its stake in Protagonist Therapeutics by 2.5% in the 2nd quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 14,085 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,727,000 after acquiring an additional 347 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nykredit A S acquired a new stake in Protagonist Therapeutics during the 2nd quarter worth about $296,000. 98.63% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Protagonist Therapeutics Company Profile

Protagonist Therapeutics, Inc (NASDAQ:PTGX) is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on developing peptide-based medicines for chronic immune-mediated and hematologic diseases. The company uses its proprietary technology platform to design peptides intended to selectively interact with disease-relevant biological targets.

Protagonist’s pipeline includes icotrokinra, formerly known as JNJ-2113, an investigational oral peptide that selectively targets the interleukin-23 receptor.