Insider Selling: Protagonist Therapeutics (NASDAQ:PTGX) CFO Sells 58,629 Shares of Company Stock

Key Points

• Protagonist Therapeutics CFO Asif Ali sold 58,629 shares at an average price of $141.78, generating approximately $8.31 million. The Rule 10b5-1 transaction reduced his holdings by 49.84% to 59,003 shares.
• PTGX recently traded at $140.06, near its $160.81 12-month high, and has a market capitalization of approximately $9.06 billion. The company exceeded quarterly earnings and revenue expectations, with revenue rising 3,746.8% year over year.
• Analysts remain broadly positive, with 16 Buy ratings and two Holds producing a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating and a $147.13 price target. Institutional investors own 98.63% of the company.

Protagonist Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:PTGX - Get Free Report) CFO Asif Ali sold 58,629 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $141.78, for a total transaction of $8,312,419.62. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 59,003 shares in the company, valued at $8,365,445.34. This trade represents a 49.84% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

Protagonist Therapeutics Stock Up 0.6%

PTGX traded up $0.87 during trading on Friday, reaching $140.06. 646,500 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 713,166. Protagonist Therapeutics, Inc. has a 12 month low of $62.24 and a 12 month high of $160.81. The stock's 50-day moving average is $145.09 and its 200 day moving average is $122.07. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.06 billion, a PE ratio of 135.98 and a beta of 1.53.

Protagonist Therapeutics (NASDAQ:PTGX - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The company reported $2.29 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.27 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $213.47 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $212.03 million. Protagonist Therapeutics had a return on equity of 12.03% and a net margin of 29.40%.Protagonist Therapeutics's revenue was up 3746.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Protagonist Therapeutics, Inc. will post 4.22 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Protagonist Therapeutics

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of PTGX. BlackRock Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Protagonist Therapeutics in the second quarter valued at $1,263,535,000. Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its stake in shares of Protagonist Therapeutics by 9.1% during the 1st quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 2,891,527 shares of the company's stock worth $304,866,000 after acquiring an additional 241,546 shares during the period. Johnson & Johnson bought a new position in shares of Protagonist Therapeutics during the 2nd quarter worth $300,220,852. Jupiter Topco LLC purchased a new stake in Protagonist Therapeutics in the 2nd quarter worth about $261,039,000. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Protagonist Therapeutics by 2.6% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,452,928 shares of the company's stock worth $126,920,000 after acquiring an additional 36,282 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 98.63% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

PTGX has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Weiss Ratings upgraded Protagonist Therapeutics from a "sell (d+)" rating to a "hold (c+)" rating in a report on Tuesday, August 11th. Wolfe Research reissued an "outperform" rating on shares of Protagonist Therapeutics in a research note on Monday, August 31st. Citigroup upped their price target on Protagonist Therapeutics from $175.00 to $182.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, August 31st. UBS Group raised Protagonist Therapeutics to a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, August 10th. Finally, TD Cowen restated a "buy" rating on shares of Protagonist Therapeutics in a report on Wednesday, July 1st. Sixteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $147.13.

About Protagonist Therapeutics

Protagonist Therapeutics, Inc NASDAQ: PTGX is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on developing peptide-based medicines for chronic immune-mediated and hematologic diseases. The company uses its proprietary technology platform to design peptides intended to selectively interact with disease-relevant biological targets.

Protagonist's pipeline includes icotrokinra, formerly known as JNJ-2113, an investigational oral peptide that selectively targets the interleukin-23 receptor.

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