Protagonist Therapeutics (NASDAQ:PTGX) Stock Price Target Raised at HC Wainwright

Protagonist Therapeutics (NASDAQ:PTGX) had its price target raised by HC Wainwright from $170.00 to $221.00 in a report published on Friday,Benzinga reports. HC Wainwright currently has a buy rating on the stock.

Other research analysts also recently issued research reports about the company. Leerink Partners initiated coverage on Protagonist Therapeutics in a report on Monday, October 12th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $190.00 price target on the stock. Citigroup raised their target price on Protagonist Therapeutics from $175.00 to $182.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, August 31st. UBS Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Protagonist Therapeutics in a report on Tuesday. Wall Street Zen cut Protagonist Therapeutics from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, October 10th. Finally, Weiss Ratings lowered Protagonist Therapeutics from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Friday, October 23rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have issued a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $166.67.

Protagonist Therapeutics Stock Performance

Shares of PTGX stock traded down $3.22 on Friday, hitting $132.04. The stock had a trading volume of 972,922 shares, compared to its average volume of 695,258. Protagonist Therapeutics has a 52-week low of $76.70 and a 52-week high of $160.81. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $141.52 and its 200-day moving average is $117.83. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.97 and a beta of 1.21.

Protagonist Therapeutics (NASDAQ:PTGX) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, November 5th. The company reported $3.07 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.50 by $0.57. The firm had revenue of $274.41 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $238.49 million. Protagonist Therapeutics had a net margin of 29.40% and a return on equity of 12.03%. Equities analysts expect that Protagonist Therapeutics will post 4.59 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Protagonist Therapeutics

In other Protagonist Therapeutics news, CFO Asif Ali sold 58,629 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $141.78, for a total value of $8,312,419.62. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Dinesh V. Ph D. Patel sold 7,278 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $144.10, for a total value of $1,048,759.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 522,968 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $75,359,688.80. The trade was a 1.37% 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. Insiders have sold 283,629 shares of company stock valued at $41,443,786 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 5.19% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in PTGX. Russell Investments Group Ltd. grew its position in shares of Protagonist Therapeutics by 86.1% during the 3rd quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 214,777 shares of the company’s stock worth $30,260,000 after buying an additional 99,352 shares during the period. Fifth Third Bancorp increased its stake in Protagonist Therapeutics by 3.7% in the 3rd quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 13,597 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,916,000 after buying an additional 485 shares during the last quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System bought a new stake in Protagonist Therapeutics during the third quarter worth $2,032,000. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund boosted its holdings in shares of Protagonist Therapeutics by 8.2% in the 3rd quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 31,602 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,452,000 after buying an additional 2,391 shares during the last quarter. Finally, New York Life Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in Protagonist Therapeutics in the third quarter valued at approximately $1,271,000. Institutional investors own 98.63% of the company’s stock.

Protagonist Therapeutics Company Profile

Protagonist Therapeutics, Inc is a biopharmaceutical company focused on discovering and developing peptide-based medicines for immune-mediated and hematologic diseases. The company uses its proprietary peptide technology platform to design therapies intended to act on specific biological pathways and receptors.

Its leading program is icotrokinra, also known as JNJ-2113, an oral, targeted inhibitor of the interleukin-23 receptor being developed in collaboration with Janssen Pharmaceuticals for inflammatory and immune-mediated conditions, including psoriasis and inflammatory bowel diseases.