Protagonist Therapeutics (NASDAQ:PTGX) Earns Market Outperform Rating from JMP Securities

Protagonist Therapeutics (NASDAQ:PTGX)‘s stock had its “market outperform” rating restated by equities researchers at JMP Securities in a research note issued on Friday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $58.00 target price on the stock. JMP Securities’ price objective would suggest a potential upside of 46.71% from the company’s previous close.

Several other brokerages have also recently issued reports on PTGX. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Protagonist Therapeutics from $51.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday. StockNews.com cut shares of Protagonist Therapeutics from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $58.00 price target on shares of Protagonist Therapeutics in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. BMO Capital Markets initiated coverage on shares of Protagonist Therapeutics in a research report on Friday, December 6th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $62.00 price target on the stock. Finally, HC Wainwright reissued a “buy” rating and set a $50.00 price target on shares of Protagonist Therapeutics in a research report on Friday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Protagonist Therapeutics currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $56.00.

Protagonist Therapeutics Price Performance

NASDAQ PTGX traded up $1.79 on Friday, hitting $39.54. The company had a trading volume of 302,161 shares, compared to its average volume of 536,891. The company has a market capitalization of $2.36 billion, a PE ratio of 14.86 and a beta of 2.22. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $39.09 and its 200-day moving average price is $41.86. Protagonist Therapeutics has a 12-month low of $24.22 and a 12-month high of $48.89.

Protagonist Therapeutics (NASDAQ:PTGX) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The company reported ($0.54) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.59) by $0.05. Protagonist Therapeutics had a net margin of 52.76% and a return on equity of 34.68%. The company had revenue of $4.68 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.50 million. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Protagonist Therapeutics will post 2.28 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Dinesh V. Ph D. Patel sold 78,520 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $46.96, for a total transaction of $3,687,299.20. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 435,208 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,437,367.68. This represents a 15.28 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Suneel Gupta sold 103,437 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $46.04, for a total value of $4,762,239.48. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 256,174 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,794,250.96. This trade represents a 28.76 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 209,863 shares of company stock worth $9,689,847. Company insiders own 5.40% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Protagonist Therapeutics

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. RTW Investments LP boosted its holdings in Protagonist Therapeutics by 2.6% in the third quarter. RTW Investments LP now owns 5,426,112 shares of the company’s stock valued at $244,175,000 after purchasing an additional 139,708 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Protagonist Therapeutics by 52.9% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,183,542 shares of the company’s stock valued at $143,259,000 after acquiring an additional 1,101,218 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Protagonist Therapeutics by 8.2% in the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 1,876,466 shares of the company’s stock valued at $72,432,000 after acquiring an additional 142,376 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Protagonist Therapeutics by 0.3% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,374,697 shares of the company’s stock valued at $61,873,000 after acquiring an additional 3,528 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Protagonist Therapeutics by 2.3% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 578,409 shares of the company’s stock valued at $22,327,000 after acquiring an additional 12,906 shares during the period. 98.63% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Protagonist Therapeutics Company Profile

Protagonist Therapeutics, Inc, a biopharmaceutical company, develops peptide-based drugs for hematology and blood disorders, and inflammatory and immunomodulatory diseases. It is developing Rusfertide (PTG-300), an injectable hepcidin mimetic that completed phase 2 clinical trials for the treatment of polycythemia vera and other blood disorders; and JNJ-2113, an orally delivered investigational drug to block biological pathways that completed phase 2b clinical trials for the treatment of moderate-to-severe plaque psoriasis; and PN-943, an orally delivered, gut-restricted alpha 4 beta 7 specific integrin antagonist completed a phase 2 clinical trials in patients with moderate to severe ulcerative colitis.