Citigroup Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Protagonist Therapeutics (NASDAQ:PTGX) Stock

Key Points

• Citigroup raised its Protagonist Therapeutics price target to $175 from $130 and maintained a “buy” rating, implying 19.78% potential upside from the prior close.
• Analyst sentiment remains broadly positive: the stock has a “Moderate Buy” consensus rating and a $126.71 average target, while shares recently traded at $146.11 near their 52-week high.
• Protagonist beat quarterly estimates, reporting $2.29 in EPS versus $2.24 expected and $213.47 million in revenue, although the company continues to post negative margins and insiders sold $11.55 million of stock last quarter.

Protagonist Therapeutics (NASDAQ:PTGX - Get Free Report) had its target price lifted by investment analysts at Citigroup from $130.00 to $175.00 in a research note issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a "buy" rating on the stock. Citigroup's price target points to a potential upside of 19.78% from the stock's previous close.

PTGX has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Wedbush boosted their target price on shares of Protagonist Therapeutics from $112.00 to $118.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. TD Cowen reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Protagonist Therapeutics in a research report on Wednesday, July 1st. Barclays boosted their price objective on Protagonist Therapeutics from $151.00 to $153.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday. Wolfe Research started coverage on shares of Protagonist Therapeutics in a research note on Thursday, May 21st. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $135.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded Protagonist Therapeutics from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Saturday, July 25th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $126.71.

Protagonist Therapeutics Price Performance

Shares of Protagonist Therapeutics stock traded up $8.79 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $146.11. The company had a trading volume of 552,435 shares, compared to its average volume of 740,407. Protagonist Therapeutics has a fifty-two week low of $50.49 and a fifty-two week high of $148.00. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $122.46 and a 200 day moving average price of $104.48. The firm has a market cap of $9.40 billion, a PE ratio of -80.72 and a beta of 1.78.

Protagonist Therapeutics (NASDAQ:PTGX - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The company reported $2.29 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.24 by $0.05. Protagonist Therapeutics had a negative return on equity of 17.76% and a negative net margin of 154.88%.The company had revenue of $213.47 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $199.81 million. The business's revenue was up 3746.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Protagonist Therapeutics will post 3.69 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director William D. Waddill sold 9,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $117.94, for a total value of $1,061,460.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 7,825 shares in the company, valued at $922,880.50. This trade represents a 53.49% 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, Director Bryan Giraudo sold 6,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $100.00, for a total value of $600,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 31,825 shares in the company, valued at $3,182,500. This trade represents a 15.86% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 113,130 shares of company stock worth $11,549,340 in the last quarter. 5.19% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in 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 acquiring an additional 1,156,461 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Protagonist Therapeutics by 18.5% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,207,543 shares of the company's stock valued at $177,281,000 after purchasing an additional 500,924 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in shares of Protagonist Therapeutics by 66.2% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 3,171,423 shares of the company's stock valued at $276,992,000 after purchasing an additional 1,262,977 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its position in shares of Protagonist Therapeutics by 9.1% during the first quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 2,891,527 shares of the company's stock valued at $304,866,000 after purchasing an additional 241,546 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UBS Group AG increased its holdings in shares of Protagonist Therapeutics by 46.1% in the fourth quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 2,770,021 shares of the company's stock worth $241,934,000 after purchasing an additional 874,013 shares during the last quarter. 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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.

Continue following MarketBeat

Add MarketBeat as your preferred source on Google to see our latest stories in your feed.

Add As Preferred Source