Protagonist Therapeutics, Inc. $PTGX Shares Sold by American Century Companies Inc.

Key Points

• American Century Companies Inc. has reduced its stake in Protagonist Therapeutics by 26.1%, now holding approximately 1.11% of the company's shares, worth about $33.17 million.
• Protagonist Therapeutics reported earnings of ($0.55) per share for the last quarter, which was below the consensus estimate of ($0.53), indicating ongoing challenges in generating revenue.
• Most analysts have a consensus rating of "Buy" for Protagonist Therapeutics, with a target price of $67.20, indicating optimism about the company's future performance.

American Century Companies Inc. lowered its stake in Protagonist Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:PTGX - Free Report) by 26.1% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 685,824 shares of the company's stock after selling 242,462 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. owned approximately 1.11% of Protagonist Therapeutics worth $33,166,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Farallon Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 69,000 shares during the period. RTW Investments LP grew its holdings in Protagonist Therapeutics by 1.3% during the fourth 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 period. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Protagonist Therapeutics by 1.4% during the first 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 period. BVF Inc. IL grew its holdings in Protagonist Therapeutics by 2.7% during the fourth quarter. BVF Inc. IL now owns 1,900,015 shares of the company's stock worth $73,341,000 after acquiring an additional 49,848 shares during the period. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its holdings in Protagonist Therapeutics by 6.4% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 1,392,652 shares of the company's stock worth $53,758,000 after acquiring an additional 83,185 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.63% of the company's stock.

Protagonist Therapeutics Stock Performance

Protagonist Therapeutics stock opened at $56.04 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 80.06 and a beta of 2.33. Protagonist Therapeutics, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $33.31 and a fifty-two week high of $60.60. The stock's fifty day moving average is $54.13 and its two-hundred day moving average is $48.39.

Protagonist Therapeutics (NASDAQ:PTGX - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results 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). The firm had revenue of $5.55 million during 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%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Protagonist Therapeutics, Inc. will post 2.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Protagonist Therapeutics

In other news, insider Arturo Md Molina sold 10,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.03, for a total value of $570,300.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 83,892 shares in the company, valued at $4,784,360.76. This represents a 10.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Dinesh V. Ph D. Patel sold 10,415 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, July 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $54.78, for a total value of $570,533.70. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 520,603 shares in the company, valued at $28,518,632.34. This represents a 1.96% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 72,859 shares of company stock worth $4,020,877 in the last three months. 4.90% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

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.

Want to see what other hedge funds are holding PTGX? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Protagonist Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:PTGX - Free Report).

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.