Insider Selling: Protagonist Therapeutics (NASDAQ:PTGX) CFO Sells $3,840,855.39 in Stock

Protagonist Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:PTGX) CFO Asif Ali sold 46,203 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $83.13, for a total value of $3,840,855.39. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 60,320 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,014,401.60. This represents a 43.37% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink.

Asif Ali also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Tuesday, January 20th, Asif Ali sold 8,588 shares of Protagonist Therapeutics stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $82.48, for a total transaction of $708,338.24.

Protagonist Therapeutics Trading Down 2.5%

Protagonist Therapeutics stock opened at $79.73 on Friday. Protagonist Therapeutics, Inc. has a 1-year low of $33.70 and a 1-year high of $96.54. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.98 billion, a PE ratio of 128.60 and a beta of 2.26. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $86.33 and its 200 day simple moving average is $72.53.

Protagonist Therapeutics (NASDAQ:PTGX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 6th. The company reported ($0.62) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.59) by ($0.03). The firm had revenue of $4.71 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.41 million. Protagonist Therapeutics had a net margin of 21.94% and a return on equity of 6.86%. Research analysts forecast that Protagonist Therapeutics, Inc. will post 2.43 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have weighed in on PTGX. Citizens Jmp raised their price target on Protagonist Therapeutics from $69.00 to $102.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 7th. Truist Financial upped their price objective on shares of Protagonist Therapeutics from $88.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 5th. BTIG Research reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $82.00 target price on shares of Protagonist Therapeutics in a research report on Tuesday, October 28th. Johnson Rice set a $112.00 price target on shares of Protagonist Therapeutics in a research note on Monday, October 13th. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised shares of Protagonist Therapeutics from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 24th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have assigned a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $86.77.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of PTGX. UBS Group AG grew its position in shares of Protagonist Therapeutics by 46.1% during the 4th quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 2,770,021 shares of the company’s stock worth $241,934,000 after buying an additional 874,013 shares in the last quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky lifted its position in shares of Protagonist Therapeutics by 53.4% in the 4th quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky now owns 26,528 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,317,000 after purchasing an additional 9,232 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Protagonist Therapeutics by 27.2% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,413,690 shares of the company’s stock valued at $472,832,000 after purchasing an additional 1,156,461 shares in the last quarter. M&T Bank Corp purchased a new position in Protagonist Therapeutics during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $979,000. Finally, Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH increased its holdings in Protagonist Therapeutics by 26.3% during the fourth quarter. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH now owns 114,036 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,960,000 after buying an additional 23,719 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 98.63% of the company’s stock.

Protagonist Therapeutics Company Profile

Protagonist Therapeutics, Inc (NASDAQ: PTGX) is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the development of novel, orally administered peptide-based therapies for immune-mediated and other serious diseases. The company leverages its proprietary Peptide 2.0 platform to design peptides that target G protein–coupled receptors and cytokine receptors, with the goal of combining the potency of biologics with the convenience of oral administration. Protagonist’s approach aims to address unmet medical needs in areas where injectable therapies have been the standard of care.

Among its lead programs is PTG-100, an oral α4β7 integrin antagonist intended to block leukocyte migration to the gut in ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease.