Axiom Investors LLC DE Acquires New Shares in Protagonist Therapeutics, Inc. $PTGX

Key Points

• Axiom Investors LLC DE purchased 39,969 shares of Protagonist Therapeutics, Inc. for approximately $1.93 million in the first quarter, increasing their stake to 0.06% of the company.
• Protagonist Therapeutics' stock has a current market capitalization of $3.5 billion, with a consensus rating of Buy and a price target of $67.20.
• Insider transactions indicate significant sales, with CEO Dinesh V. Patel selling 10,415 shares for over $570,000, reflecting a 1.96% decrease in his ownership.

Axiom Investors LLC DE acquired a new stake in shares of Protagonist Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:PTGX - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 39,969 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,933,000. Axiom Investors LLC DE owned about 0.06% of Protagonist Therapeutics as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of PTGX. GF Fund Management CO. LTD. acquired a new stake in shares of Protagonist Therapeutics during the 4th quarter valued at about $48,000. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in shares of Protagonist Therapeutics by 153.3% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,203 shares of the company's stock valued at $58,000 after acquiring an additional 728 shares during the period. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of Protagonist Therapeutics by 141.7% during the 1st quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,211 shares of the company's stock valued at $59,000 after acquiring an additional 710 shares during the period. Brooklyn Investment Group acquired a new stake in shares of Protagonist Therapeutics during the 1st quarter valued at about $68,000. Finally, PNC Financial Services Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Protagonist Therapeutics by 38.2% during the 1st quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 1,992 shares of the company's stock valued at $96,000 after acquiring an additional 551 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.63% of the company's stock.

Protagonist Therapeutics Stock Down 1.4%

PTGX traded down $0.82 during trading on Friday, reaching $58.86. The company's stock had a trading volume of 685,841 shares, compared to its average volume of 880,496. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $55.70 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $50.87. Protagonist Therapeutics, Inc. has a 1 year low of $33.31 and a 1 year high of $61.89. The company has a market cap of $3.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 84.09 and a beta of 2.22.

Protagonist Therapeutics (NASDAQ:PTGX - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The company reported ($0.55) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.53) by ($0.02). Protagonist Therapeutics had a return on equity of 8.12% and a net margin of 24.88%.The business had revenue of $5.55 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $8.32 million. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Protagonist Therapeutics, Inc. will post 2.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Protagonist Therapeutics news, CEO Dinesh V. Ph D. Patel sold 22,065 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.05, for a total value of $1,214,678.25. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 548,538 shares of the company's stock, valued at $30,197,016.90. This trade represents a 3.87% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director William D. Waddill sold 4,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.25, for a total transaction of $237,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 9,130 shares in the company, valued at $540,952.50. This trade represents a 30.46% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 66,859 shares of company stock worth $3,687,577 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 4.90% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently commented on PTGX. JMP Securities raised their target price on Protagonist Therapeutics from $67.00 to $69.00 and gave the company a "market outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. Leerink Partners began coverage on Protagonist Therapeutics in a research report on Friday. They set an "outperform" rating and a $73.00 target price on the stock. Leerink Partnrs upgraded Protagonist Therapeutics to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Friday. Wall Street Zen upgraded Protagonist Therapeutics from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Sunday, June 8th. Finally, HC Wainwright reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $80.00 price objective on shares of Protagonist Therapeutics in a report on Tuesday, June 3rd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $67.73.

Protagonist Therapeutics Profile

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.