Protagonist Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:PTGX) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Buy” from Analysts

Shares of Protagonist Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:PTGX) have been assigned an average recommendation of “Buy” from the nine brokerages that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold recommendation, seven have given a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month target price among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $62.56.

PTGX has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price objective on Protagonist Therapeutics from $43.00 to $38.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Protagonist Therapeutics from $53.00 to $57.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $70.00 price objective on shares of Protagonist Therapeutics in a research note on Friday. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and set a $58.00 price target on shares of Protagonist Therapeutics in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Finally, StockNews.com cut Protagonist Therapeutics from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th.

Protagonist Therapeutics Trading Down 1.1 %

Shares of PTGX opened at $48.88 on Monday. Protagonist Therapeutics has a 1-year low of $24.22 and a 1-year high of $60.60. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $42.54 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $42.87. The firm has a market cap of $3.00 billion, a PE ratio of 18.38 and a beta of 2.34.

Protagonist Therapeutics (NASDAQ:PTGX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 21st. The company reported $1.98 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.09) by $2.07. Protagonist Therapeutics had a net margin of 52.76% and a return on equity of 34.68%. The business had revenue of $170.64 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $56.65 million. As a group, research analysts forecast that Protagonist Therapeutics will post 2.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Dinesh V. Ph D. Patel sold 5,359 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $38.18, for a total transaction of $204,606.62. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 540,260 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,627,126.80. This represents a 0.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director William D. Waddill sold 4,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $54.25, for a total value of $217,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 13,130 shares in the company, valued at $712,302.50. This represents a 23.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 64,776 shares of company stock worth $3,585,010. 5.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Protagonist Therapeutics

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. FNY Investment Advisers LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Protagonist Therapeutics during the fourth quarter valued at $38,000. GF Fund Management CO. LTD. purchased a new position in shares of Protagonist Therapeutics during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $48,000. Covestor Ltd increased its holdings in Protagonist Therapeutics by 5,200.0% in the fourth quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 1,643 shares of the company’s stock valued at $63,000 after buying an additional 1,612 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV increased its stake in shares of Protagonist Therapeutics by 54.4% in the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,093 shares of the company’s stock valued at $81,000 after purchasing an additional 737 shares in the last quarter. Finally, New Vernon Capital Holdings II LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Protagonist Therapeutics in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $118,000. 98.63% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.