Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD Sells 70,646 Shares of Protagonist Therapeutics, Inc. $PTGX

Key Points

• Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD sold 70,646 shares of Protagonist Therapeutics, decreasing its stake by 5.1%, now holding approximately 1,322,006 shares valued at $63.93 million.
• Protagonist Therapeutics’ CEO, Dinesh V. Patel, sold 10,415 shares for $570,534, representing a 1.96% decrease in his holdings.
• Analysts have set an average price target of $67.20 for Protagonist Therapeutics, with several firms maintaining a "buy" rating on the stock.

Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD decreased its position in Protagonist Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:PTGX - Free Report) by 5.1% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,322,006 shares of the company's stock after selling 70,646 shares during the quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD owned 2.13% of Protagonist Therapeutics worth $63,934,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Farallon Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Protagonist Therapeutics by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Farallon Capital Management LLC now owns 5,930,006 shares of the company's stock valued at $228,898,000 after buying an additional 69,000 shares in the last quarter. RTW Investments LP grew its position in Protagonist Therapeutics by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. RTW Investments LP now owns 5,498,545 shares of the company's stock worth $212,244,000 after acquiring an additional 72,433 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Protagonist Therapeutics by 1.4% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,277,218 shares of the company's stock worth $206,846,000 after acquiring an additional 57,181 shares during the last quarter. BVF Inc. IL increased its holdings in Protagonist Therapeutics by 2.7% during the 4th quarter. BVF Inc. IL now owns 1,900,015 shares of the company's stock valued at $73,341,000 after purchasing an additional 49,848 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Deep Track Capital LP bought a new position in Protagonist Therapeutics in the 4th quarter valued at $38,600,000. 98.63% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director William D. Waddill sold 4,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.25, for a total value of $237,000.00. Following 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Arturo Md Molina sold 10,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.03, for a total value of $570,300.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 83,892 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,784,360.76. This represents a 10.65% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 76,859 shares of company stock valued at $4,257,877 in the last 90 days. 4.90% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently commented on the company. JMP Securities increased their target price on Protagonist Therapeutics from $67.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock a "market outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, August 7th. HC Wainwright reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $80.00 price target on shares of Protagonist Therapeutics in a research report on Tuesday, June 3rd. Citigroup restated an "outperform" rating on shares of Protagonist Therapeutics in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Protagonist Therapeutics from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Sunday, June 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have assigned a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Protagonist Therapeutics presently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $67.20.

Protagonist Therapeutics Trading Up 1.6%

Protagonist Therapeutics stock traded up $0.91 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $59.05. The stock had a trading volume of 792,267 shares, compared to its average volume of 657,634. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.67 billion, a PE ratio of 84.36 and a beta of 2.33. Protagonist Therapeutics, Inc. has a 12 month low of $33.31 and a 12 month high of $61.89. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $54.58 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $49.23.

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

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.