Protagonist Therapeutics, Inc. $PTGX Shares Bought by Trexquant Investment LP

Key Points

• Trexquant Investment LP increased its stake in Protagonist Therapeutics, acquiring an additional 11,195 shares and holding a total of 103,983 shares, valued at approximately $5 million.
• Insider trading activity included significant sales by Director William D. Waddill and CEO Dinesh V. Ph D. Patel, with total insider sales reaching $4.26 million in the last quarter.
• Protagonist Therapeutics missed earnings expectations, reporting a loss of $0.55 per share against a forecast of $0.53, while having a revenue of $5.55 million for the quarter.

Trexquant Investment LP grew its position in Protagonist Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:PTGX - Free Report) by 12.1% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 103,983 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 11,195 shares during the quarter. Trexquant Investment LP owned about 0.17% of Protagonist Therapeutics worth $5,029,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Landscape Capital Management L.L.C. purchased a new position in Protagonist Therapeutics during the first quarter worth approximately $375,000. Axiom Investors LLC DE acquired a new stake in shares of Protagonist Therapeutics in the 1st quarter worth $1,933,000. Jump Financial LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Protagonist Therapeutics in the 1st quarter worth $2,746,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Protagonist Therapeutics by 141.7% in the 1st quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,211 shares of the company's stock worth $59,000 after acquiring an additional 710 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AlphaQuest LLC increased its stake in shares of Protagonist Therapeutics by 24.2% in the 1st quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 2,704 shares of the company's stock worth $131,000 after acquiring an additional 527 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.63% of the company's stock.

Protagonist Therapeutics Stock Up 1.6%

NASDAQ PTGX traded up $0.93 during trading on Friday, hitting $60.53. The stock had a trading volume of 1,926,558 shares, compared to its average volume of 930,323. The company has a market capitalization of $3.77 billion, a PE ratio of 86.47 and a beta of 2.22. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $54.96 and a 200 day moving average price of $49.80. Protagonist Therapeutics, Inc. has a twelve month low of $33.31 and a twelve month high of $61.89.

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 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%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Protagonist Therapeutics, Inc. will post 2.43 earnings per share for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have issued reports on PTGX. Wall Street Zen raised Protagonist Therapeutics from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Sunday, June 8th. Citigroup reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of Protagonist Therapeutics in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. JMP Securities lifted 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. Finally, HC Wainwright restated a "buy" rating and issued a $80.00 target price on shares of Protagonist Therapeutics in a research report on Tuesday, June 3rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have issued a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $67.20.

Insider Buying and Selling at Protagonist Therapeutics

In other Protagonist Therapeutics news, Director William D. Waddill sold 4,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.25, for a total value of $237,000.00. Following the sale, the director owned 9,130 shares of the company's stock, 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 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 directly owned 83,892 shares in the company, 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 sold a total of 76,859 shares of company stock valued at $4,257,877 in the last three months. 4.90% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.