Protagonist Therapeutics (NASDAQ:PTGX) Cut to “Buy” at Wall Street Zen

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

Several other equities analysts also recently issued reports on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of Protagonist Therapeutics from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the company from $110.00 to $186.00 in a research note on Monday, August 10th. 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. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Protagonist Therapeutics from $175.00 to $182.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, August 31st. Weiss Ratings upgraded Protagonist Therapeutics from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, Truist Financial increased their price objective on Protagonist Therapeutics from $145.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, August 10th. 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 company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $154.44.

Protagonist Therapeutics Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ PTGX opened at $144.88 on Friday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $145.89 and a 200 day simple moving average of $124.17. The firm has a market cap of $9.38 billion, a PE 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 posted its earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The company reported $2.29 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.27 by $0.02. Protagonist Therapeutics had a net margin of 29.40% and a return on equity of 12.03%. The business had revenue of $213.47 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $212.03 million. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 3746.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Protagonist Therapeutics will post 4.22 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Protagonist Therapeutics news, CEO Dinsesh Patel sold 7,278 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $144.10, for a total transaction 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 approximately $75,359,688.80. This represents a 1.37% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through 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 that occurred on 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 owned 59,003 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,365,445.34. The trade was 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 a total of 283,629 shares of company stock valued at $41,443,786 in the last three months. Insiders own 5.19% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Protagonist Therapeutics

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in 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 acquiring an additional 409 shares in the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Protagonist Therapeutics by 442.5% in the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 2,398 shares of the company’s stock worth $338,000 after purchasing an additional 1,956 shares during the period. Engineers Gate Manager LP bought a new stake in Protagonist Therapeutics in the second quarter valued at $536,000. Arizona State Retirement System increased its stake in Protagonist Therapeutics by 2.5% in the second quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 14,085 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,727,000 after purchasing an additional 347 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nykredit A S bought a new stake in Protagonist Therapeutics in the second quarter valued at $296,000. 98.63% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Protagonist Therapeutics

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.