Guggenheim Capital LLC Buys 11,180 Shares of Protagonist Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:PTGX)

Guggenheim Capital LLC boosted its stake in shares of Protagonist Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:PTGX - Free Report) by 141.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 19,078 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 11,180 shares during the quarter. Guggenheim Capital LLC's holdings in Protagonist Therapeutics were worth $736,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. FNY Investment Advisers LLC bought a new position in Protagonist Therapeutics in the 4th quarter valued at about $38,000. Covestor Ltd boosted its stake in Protagonist Therapeutics by 5,200.0% during the fourth quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 1,643 shares of the company's stock valued at $63,000 after buying an additional 1,612 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV grew its holdings in Protagonist Therapeutics by 54.4% during the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,093 shares of the company's stock worth $81,000 after acquiring an additional 737 shares during the period. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Protagonist Therapeutics by 10.4% during the fourth quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 3,133 shares of the company's stock valued at $121,000 after purchasing an additional 295 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cibc World Markets Corp bought a new position in shares of Protagonist Therapeutics in the fourth quarter valued at $211,000. 98.63% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Protagonist Therapeutics

In other news, CEO Dinesh V. Ph D. Patel sold 5,359 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $38.18, for a total transaction of $204,606.62. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 540,260 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,627,126.80. This trade represents a 0.98 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Arturo Md Molina sold 30,514 shares of Protagonist Therapeutics stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.74, for a total transaction of $1,700,850.36. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 83,892 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,676,140.08. The trade was a 26.67 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 66,532 shares of company stock valued at $3,665,786. 5.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on PTGX shares. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their target price on Protagonist Therapeutics from $43.00 to $38.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 24th. BTIG Research set a $73.00 price target on shares of Protagonist Therapeutics in a report on Monday, March 3rd. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on shares of Protagonist Therapeutics from $62.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. Wedbush reiterated an "outperform" rating and set a $70.00 price objective on shares of Protagonist Therapeutics in a research report on Friday, March 28th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Protagonist Therapeutics from $53.00 to $57.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $65.44.

Protagonist Therapeutics Stock Up 0.4 %

Shares of NASDAQ:PTGX traded up $0.20 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $45.82. 860,806 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 860,291. Protagonist Therapeutics, Inc. has a 1-year low of $24.78 and a 1-year high of $60.60. The firm has a market cap of $2.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.23 and a beta of 2.30. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $45.98 and a 200 day simple moving average of $42.87.

Protagonist Therapeutics (NASDAQ:PTGX - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Friday, February 21st. The company reported $1.98 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.09) by $2.07. Protagonist Therapeutics had a return on equity of 34.68% and a net margin of 52.76%. The firm had revenue of $170.64 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $56.65 million. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Protagonist Therapeutics, Inc. will post 2.43 EPS for the current 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.