Protagonist Therapeutics’ (PTGX) “Buy” Rating Reiterated at BTIG Research

BTIG Research reissued their buy rating on shares of Protagonist Therapeutics (NASDAQ:PTGX) in a research report sent to investors on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $82.00 price target on the stock.

A number of other equities research analysts have also commented on the stock. HC Wainwright reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $80.00 price target on shares of Protagonist Therapeutics in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Protagonist Therapeutics in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. JMP Securities upped their price objective on shares of Protagonist Therapeutics from $67.00 to $69.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. Citigroup raised their target price on Protagonist Therapeutics from $72.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 17th. Finally, Leerink Partnrs upgraded Protagonist Therapeutics to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 12th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have issued a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $77.08.

Protagonist Therapeutics Price Performance

PTGX opened at $77.85 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $66.18 and its 200 day simple moving average is $56.14. The firm has a market cap of $4.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 111.22 and a beta of 2.20. Protagonist Therapeutics has a 1 year low of $33.31 and a 1 year high of $93.25.

Protagonist Therapeutics (NASDAQ:PTGX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 6th. The company reported ($0.55) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.53) by ($0.02). Protagonist Therapeutics had a net margin of 24.88% and a return on equity of 8.12%. The company had revenue of $5.55 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.32 million. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Protagonist Therapeutics will post 2.43 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Protagonist Therapeutics

In related news, Director William D. Waddill sold 12,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.62, for a total value of $979,440.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 5,130 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $418,710.60. This represents a 70.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Insiders have sold 20,000 shares of company stock valued at $1,473,440 over the last ninety days. 4.90% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in PTGX. FNY Investment Advisers LLC purchased a new position in shares of Protagonist Therapeutics in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Bessemer Group Inc. grew its stake in Protagonist Therapeutics by 171.0% in the second quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 504 shares of the company’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 318 shares during the period. Salomon & Ludwin LLC bought a new position in Protagonist Therapeutics in the third quarter worth $29,000. CWM LLC lifted its position in Protagonist Therapeutics by 201.5% during the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 609 shares of the company’s stock valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 407 shares during the period. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in Protagonist Therapeutics by 153.3% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,203 shares of the company’s stock valued at $58,000 after buying an additional 728 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.63% of the company’s stock.

About Protagonist Therapeutics

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.