Wall Street Zen Upgrades Protagonist Therapeutics (NASDAQ:PTGX) to "Strong-Buy"

Key Points

• Wall Street Zen upgraded Protagonist Therapeutics to “Strong Buy”; analysts overall maintain a “Buy” consensus with an average price target of $166.67.
• The company beat quarterly earnings expectations, reporting EPS of $3.07 versus $2.50 expected and revenue of $274.41 million versus $238.49 million expected.
• Shares opened at $132.04, down 2.4%; company insiders sold 283,629 shares worth about $41.4 million over the past 90 days.

Protagonist Therapeutics (NASDAQ:PTGX - Get Free Report) was upgraded by equities researchers at Wall Street Zen from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report released on Saturday, Wall Street Zen reports.

PTGX has been the subject of a number of other reports. Wedbush upped their price objective on Protagonist Therapeutics from $118.00 to $173.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Monday, August 10th. Truist Financial lifted their price objective on shares of Protagonist Therapeutics from $145.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, August 10th. TD Cowen upped their target price on Protagonist Therapeutics from $155.00 to $160.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 21st. Zacks Research raised shares of Protagonist Therapeutics from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 14th. Finally, Citigroup increased their price target on Protagonist Therapeutics from $175.00 to $182.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, August 31st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Protagonist Therapeutics has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $166.67.

Protagonist Therapeutics Stock Down 2.4%

Shares of NASDAQ:PTGX opened at $132.04 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $8.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 135.31 and a beta of 1.21. Protagonist Therapeutics has a twelve month low of $76.70 and a twelve month high of $160.81. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $141.52 and a 200 day moving average price of $117.83.

Protagonist Therapeutics (NASDAQ:PTGX - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 5th. The company reported $3.07 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.50 by $0.57. The firm had revenue of $274.41 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $238.49 million. Protagonist Therapeutics had a return on equity of 12.03% and a net margin of 29.40%. Analysts anticipate that Protagonist Therapeutics will post 4.59 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Protagonist Therapeutics

In other Protagonist Therapeutics news, CEO Dinesh V. Ph D. Patel sold 65,761 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, August 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $149.11, for a total value of $9,805,622.71. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 523,478 shares of the company's stock, valued at $78,055,804.58. This trade represents a 11.16% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available 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 shares were sold at an average price of $141.78, for a total value of $8,312,419.62. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 59,003 shares of the company's stock, 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. Insiders sold a total of 283,629 shares of company stock valued at $41,443,786 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 5.19% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Protagonist Therapeutics

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of PTGX. Keating Financial Advisory Services Inc. bought a new position in Protagonist Therapeutics in the second quarter valued at about $30,000. Allworth Financial LP bought a new stake in shares of Protagonist Therapeutics during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $31,000. Quantbot Technologies LP acquired a new stake in Protagonist Therapeutics during the 2nd quarter worth about $42,000. Parallel Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Protagonist Therapeutics by 205.9% in the third quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 361 shares of the company's stock worth $51,000 after buying an additional 243 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Harbor Investment Advisory LLC acquired a new stake in Protagonist Therapeutics in the 2nd quarter valued at about $89,000. 98.63% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Protagonist Therapeutics Company Profile

Protagonist Therapeutics, Inc is a biopharmaceutical company focused on discovering and developing peptide-based medicines for immune-mediated and hematologic diseases. The company uses its proprietary peptide technology platform to design therapies intended to act on specific biological pathways and receptors.

Its leading program is icotrokinra, also known as JNJ-2113, an oral, targeted inhibitor of the interleukin-23 receptor being developed in collaboration with Janssen Pharmaceuticals for inflammatory and immune-mediated conditions, including psoriasis and inflammatory bowel diseases.

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