Protagonist Therapeutics (NASDAQ:PTGX) Upgraded at Wall Street Zen

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

Several other research analysts have also recently issued reports on PTGX. HC Wainwright increased their target price on shares of Protagonist Therapeutics from $170.00 to $221.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. Johnson Rice set a $165.00 price objective on shares of Protagonist Therapeutics in a report on Friday, July 17th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of Protagonist Therapeutics from $178.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 1st. Leerink Partners initiated coverage on Protagonist Therapeutics in a report on Monday, October 12th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $190.00 target price for the company. Finally, Truist Financial increased their target price on Protagonist Therapeutics from $145.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, August 10th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and sixteen have issued a Buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Protagonist Therapeutics presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $166.67.

Protagonist Therapeutics Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ PTGX opened at $135.90 on Friday. Protagonist Therapeutics has a 52-week low of $77.00 and a 52-week high of $160.81. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 139.19 and a beta of 1.21. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $141.35 and a 200 day moving average price of $118.09.

Protagonist Therapeutics (NASDAQ:PTGX) last posted its quarterly 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 business had revenue of $274.41 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $238.49 million. Protagonist Therapeutics had a return on equity of 12.03% and a net margin of 29.40%. Analysts forecast that Protagonist Therapeutics will post 4.59 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Protagonist Therapeutics

In related news, CEO Dinesh V. Ph D. Patel sold 7,278 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $144.10, for a total value of $1,048,759.80. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 522,968 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $75,359,688.80. This represents a 1.37% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO Asif Ali sold 58,629 shares of the firm’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 transaction, the chief financial officer owned 59,003 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,365,445.34. This trade represents a 49.84% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold 183,629 shares of company stock valued at $26,552,987 over the last quarter. Insiders own 5.19% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Keating Financial Advisory Services Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Protagonist Therapeutics during the second quarter worth about $30,000. Allworth Financial LP purchased a new stake in Protagonist Therapeutics in the second quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Quantbot Technologies LP acquired a new position in Protagonist Therapeutics in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $42,000. Parallel Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Protagonist Therapeutics by 205.9% in the 3rd quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 361 shares of the company’s stock worth $51,000 after buying an additional 243 shares during the period. Finally, Harbor Investment Advisory LLC acquired a new position in Protagonist Therapeutics in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $89,000. 98.63% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Protagonist Therapeutics Company Profile

Protagonist Therapeutics is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company that discovers and develops peptide-based medicines, primarily for inflammatory and blood disorders. Its research approach uses engineered peptides designed to act on specific biological targets.

The company’s programs include rusfertide, a hepcidin mimetic being developed for polycythemia vera, and icotrokinra, an oral interleukin-23 receptor antagonist being developed for immune-mediated diseases. Protagonist has entered into licensing and development collaborations for these programs with Takeda and Johnson & Johnson, respectively; they are investigational medicines, not approved treatments.

Founded in 2006 and based in Newark, California, Protagonist is led by co-founder and Chief Executive Officer Dinesh V.