Royce & Associates LP Invests $593,000 in Protagonist Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:PTGX)

Key Points

• Royce & Associates LP has made a new investment of approximately $593,000 in Protagonist Therapeutics, acquiring 12,255 shares during the first quarter.
• Insider trading activity includes CEO Dinesh V. Ph D. Patel selling 10,415 shares at an average price of $54.78, leading to a 1.96% decrease in his ownership.
• Protagonist Therapeutics reported a quarterly earnings EPS of ($0.19), surpassing analysts' expectations, and has a current market cap of $3.41 billion.

Royce & Associates LP acquired a new stake in Protagonist Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:PTGX - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 12,255 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $593,000.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of PTGX. GF Fund Management CO. LTD. acquired a new position in Protagonist Therapeutics in the fourth quarter valued at $48,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in shares of Protagonist Therapeutics by 153.3% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,203 shares of the company's stock worth $58,000 after buying an additional 728 shares during the period. Covestor Ltd boosted its stake in shares of Protagonist Therapeutics by 5,200.0% during the fourth quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 1,643 shares of the company's stock worth $63,000 after buying an additional 1,612 shares during the period. Penserra Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Protagonist Therapeutics during the first quarter worth about $117,000. Finally, New Vernon Capital Holdings II LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Protagonist Therapeutics during the fourth quarter worth about $118,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.63% of the company's stock.

Protagonist Therapeutics Stock Performance

NASDAQ:PTGX traded down $0.03 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $53.83. The stock had a trading volume of 600,772 shares, compared to its average volume of 635,844. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 71.77 and a beta of 2.33. Protagonist Therapeutics, Inc. has a twelve month low of $32.50 and a twelve month high of $60.60. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $53.19 and a 200 day simple moving average of $46.75.

Protagonist Therapeutics (NASDAQ:PTGX - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 6th. The company reported ($0.19) EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.50) by $0.31. The firm had revenue of $28.32 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $30.44 million. Protagonist Therapeutics had a net margin of 27.04% and a return on equity of 9.22%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Protagonist Therapeutics, Inc. will post 2.43 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Protagonist Therapeutics

In other Protagonist Therapeutics news, CEO Dinesh V. Ph D. Patel sold 10,415 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 520,603 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $28,518,632.34. This trade represents a 1.96% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Arturo Md Molina sold 10,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.03, for a total transaction of $570,300.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 83,892 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,784,360.76. This trade represents a 10.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 72,859 shares of company stock valued at $4,020,877. 4.90% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

PTGX has been the subject of several recent research reports. HC Wainwright reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $80.00 target price on shares of Protagonist Therapeutics in a research note on Tuesday, June 3rd. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Protagonist Therapeutics from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Sunday, June 8th. Finally, Citigroup initiated coverage on shares of Protagonist Therapeutics in a research note on Tuesday, June 17th. They set a "buy" rating and a $72.00 target price for the company. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $66.10.

Protagonist Therapeutics Company 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.