Protagonist Therapeutics (NASDAQ:PTGX) Shares Break Above 50 Day Moving Average - Should You Sell?

Key Points

• Shares moved above their 50-day moving average of $142.19, trading at $143.37 after reaching an intraday high of $145.61.
• Analyst sentiment is broadly positive: the stock has an average Buy rating and a consensus price target of $163.27, with 15 Buy, one Strong Buy, and one Hold rating.
• Protagonist slightly beat quarterly earnings and revenue estimates, while revenue surged year over year. Insiders sold 283,629 shares worth about $41.4 million over the past 90 days.

Protagonist Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:PTGX - Get Free Report)'s share price passed above its fifty day moving average during trading on Wednesday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $142.19 and traded as high as $145.61. Protagonist Therapeutics shares last traded at $143.37, with a volume of 777,228 shares changing hands.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Wall Street Zen downgraded Protagonist Therapeutics from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Saturday, October 10th. Johnson Rice set a $165.00 price objective on shares of Protagonist Therapeutics in a research note on Friday, July 17th. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of Protagonist Therapeutics from $178.00 to $190.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, September 1st. TD Cowen lifted their target price on shares of Protagonist Therapeutics from $155.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 21st. Finally, Zacks Research raised shares of Protagonist Therapeutics from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 14th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have given a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $163.27.

Protagonist Therapeutics Stock Up 2.2%

The firm has a market cap of $9.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 139.20 and a beta of 1.21. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $142.19 and a 200-day moving average price of $117.32.

Protagonist Therapeutics (NASDAQ:PTGX - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The company reported $2.29 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.27 by $0.02. The company 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%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 3746.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that Protagonist Therapeutics, Inc. will post 4.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Protagonist Therapeutics

In other news, CFO Asif Ali sold 58,629 shares of Protagonist Therapeutics stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $141.78, for a total value of $8,312,419.62. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 59,003 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $8,365,445.34. The trade was a 49.84% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Dinsesh Patel sold 65,761 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, August 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $149.11, for a total transaction of $9,805,622.71. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 523,478 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $78,055,804.58. This trade represents a 11.16% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 283,629 shares of company stock worth $41,443,786. Insiders own 5.19% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Protagonist Therapeutics

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in PTGX. New York Life Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Protagonist Therapeutics in the third quarter valued at $1,271,000. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC grew its holdings in shares of Protagonist Therapeutics by 28.2% in the 3rd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 30,839 shares of the company's stock worth $4,292,000 after acquiring an additional 6,785 shares during the last quarter. Ethic Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Protagonist Therapeutics during the third quarter worth $485,000. AlphaCentric Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Protagonist Therapeutics by 4.9% during the third quarter. AlphaCentric Advisors LLC now owns 9,616 shares of the company's stock worth $1,355,000 after purchasing an additional 445 shares during the period. Finally, Parallel Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Protagonist Therapeutics by 205.9% during the third quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 361 shares of the company's stock valued at $51,000 after purchasing an additional 243 shares during the last quarter. 98.63% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Protagonist Therapeutics

Protagonist Therapeutics, Inc is a biopharmaceutical company focused on discovering and developing peptide-based medicines for immune-mediated and hematologic diseases. The company uses its proprietary peptide technology platform to design therapies intended to act on specific biological pathways and receptors.

Its leading program is icotrokinra, also known as JNJ-2113, an oral, targeted inhibitor of the interleukin-23 receptor being developed in collaboration with Janssen Pharmaceuticals for inflammatory and immune-mediated conditions, including psoriasis and inflammatory bowel diseases.

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