Protagonist Therapeutics (NASDAQ:PTGX) Stock Keeps “Outperform” Rating at Leerink Partners

Leerink Partners reiterated their outperform rating on shares of Protagonist Therapeutics (NASDAQ:PTGX) in a report published on Monday morning,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a $190.00 target price on the stock, up from their prior target price of $150.00.

Other research analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on Protagonist Therapeutics from $178.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 1st. UBS Group initiated coverage on Protagonist Therapeutics in a research note on Monday. They set a “buy” rating and a $184.00 price target for the company. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Protagonist Therapeutics from $153.00 to $180.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 1st. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Protagonist Therapeutics from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, TD Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Protagonist Therapeutics in a research note on Wednesday, July 1st. Seventeen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $154.44.

Protagonist Therapeutics Price Performance

Shares of PTGX opened at $144.88 on Monday. Protagonist Therapeutics has a one year low of $73.08 and a one year high of $160.81. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 140.66 and a beta of 1.53. The business has a fifty day moving average of $145.89 and a 200 day moving average of $124.17.

Protagonist Therapeutics (NASDAQ:PTGX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 5th. The company reported $2.29 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.27 by $0.02. Protagonist Therapeutics had a return on equity of 12.03% and a net margin of 29.40%. The company had revenue of $213.47 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $212.03 million. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 3746.8% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Protagonist Therapeutics will post 4.22 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Dinsesh Patel sold 7,278 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 522,968 shares in the company, valued at $75,359,688.80. This trade represents a 1.37% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed 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 shares were sold at an average price of $141.78, for a total transaction of $8,312,419.62. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 59,003 shares in the company, valued at $8,365,445.34. The trade was a 49.84% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last three months, insiders sold 283,629 shares of company stock valued at $41,443,786. Corporate insiders own 5.19% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Protagonist Therapeutics

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of PTGX. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in Protagonist Therapeutics by 13.2% during the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,518 shares of the company’s stock valued at $496,000 after acquiring an additional 409 shares during the period. Farther Finance Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 1,956 shares during the period. Engineers Gate Manager LP purchased a new stake in shares of Protagonist Therapeutics during the second quarter worth about $536,000. Arizona State Retirement System grew its position in shares of Protagonist Therapeutics by 2.5% during the second quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 14,085 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,727,000 after purchasing an additional 347 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nykredit A S purchased a new stake in shares of Protagonist Therapeutics during the second quarter worth about $296,000. 98.63% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Protagonist Therapeutics Company Profile

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.