Protagonist Therapeutics (NASDAQ:PTGX) Stock Rating Reaffirmed as Outperform by Leerink Partners

Protagonist Therapeutics (NASDAQ:PTGX)‘s stock had its “outperform” rating reissued by equities research analysts at Leerink Partners in a research note issued to investors on Monday, MarketBeat.com reports. They currently have a $190.00 price target on the stock, up from their previous price target of $150.00. Leerink Partners’ target price would indicate a potential upside of 37.19% from the stock’s current price.

PTGX has been the subject of several other research reports. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Protagonist Therapeutics from $153.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 1st. TD Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Protagonist Therapeutics in a research note on Wednesday, July 1st. Johnson Rice set a $165.00 price objective on shares of Protagonist Therapeutics in a research report on Friday, July 17th. Wedbush increased their price objective on shares of Protagonist Therapeutics from $118.00 to $173.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, August 10th. Finally, Wolfe Research reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Protagonist Therapeutics in a research note on Monday, August 31st. Seventeen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Protagonist Therapeutics has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $154.44.

Protagonist Therapeutics Price Performance

Shares of PTGX opened at $138.49 on Monday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $145.94 and a 200-day moving average of $124.41. The company has a market capitalization of $8.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 140.66 and a beta of 1.53. Protagonist Therapeutics has a 1 year low of $73.08 and a 1 year high of $160.81.

Protagonist Therapeutics (NASDAQ:PTGX) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The company reported $2.29 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.27 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $213.47 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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 was up 3746.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Protagonist Therapeutics will post 4.22 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Dinsesh Patel sold 65,761 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $149.11, for a total transaction of $9,805,622.71. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 523,478 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $78,055,804.58. This represents a 11.16% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO Asif Ali sold 58,629 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $141.78, for a total transaction of $8,312,419.62. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 59,003 shares in the company, valued at $8,365,445.34. This trade represents a 49.84% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold 283,629 shares of company stock worth $41,443,786 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 5.19% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in Protagonist Therapeutics by 13.2% in the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,518 shares of the company’s stock worth $496,000 after acquiring an additional 409 shares in the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC grew its stake in Protagonist Therapeutics by 442.5% in the third 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 acquired a new stake in Protagonist Therapeutics in the second quarter valued at approximately $536,000. Arizona State Retirement System increased its holdings in shares of Protagonist Therapeutics by 2.5% during the second quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 14,085 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,727,000 after acquiring an additional 347 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nykredit A S bought a new stake in shares of Protagonist Therapeutics during the second quarter valued at approximately $296,000. 98.63% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.