Brokerages Set Protagonist Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:PTGX) Target Price at $66.10

Key Points

• Protagonist Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:PTGX) has received a consensus recommendation of "Buy" from nine analysts, with a 1-year target price averaging $66.10.
• Insider trading activity includes the sale of 10,000 shares by insider Arturo Md Molina, valued at $570,300, and the sale of 22,065 shares by CEO Dinesh V. Ph D. Patel, valued at over $1.2 million.
• The company recently reported earnings of ($0.19) per share, outperforming expectations and achieving a revenue of $28.32 million for the quarter.

Shares of Protagonist Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:PTGX - Get Free Report) have received a consensus recommendation of "Buy" from the nine research firms that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 12 month price objective among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $66.10.

PTGX has been the subject of a number of research reports. Citigroup began coverage on shares of Protagonist Therapeutics in a report on Tuesday, June 17th. They set a "buy" rating and a $72.00 target price for the company. Wall Street Zen raised Protagonist Therapeutics from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Sunday, June 8th. Finally, HC Wainwright reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $80.00 target price on shares of Protagonist Therapeutics in a report on Tuesday, June 3rd.

Protagonist Therapeutics Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:PTGX traded up $0.07 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $53.90. The stock had a trading volume of 460,669 shares, compared to its average volume of 645,997. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $53.35 and its 200 day simple moving average is $47.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 71.87 and a beta of 2.33. Protagonist Therapeutics has a 1-year low of $33.31 and a 1-year high of $60.60.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Protagonist Therapeutics

In other Protagonist Therapeutics news, insider Arturo Md Molina sold 10,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.03, for a total value of $570,300.00. Following 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Dinesh V. Ph D. Patel sold 10,415 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $54.78, for a total transaction of $570,533.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 520,603 shares of the company's stock, valued at $28,518,632.34. This trade represents a 1.96% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 72,859 shares of company stock worth $4,020,877 in the last three months. Insiders own 4.90% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Protagonist Therapeutics

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in Protagonist Therapeutics by 2.7% during the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 347,095 shares of the company's stock worth $16,786,000 after acquiring an additional 9,286 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its holdings in shares of Protagonist Therapeutics by 36.7% in the 4th quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 216,069 shares of the company's stock valued at $8,340,000 after purchasing an additional 58,002 shares in the last quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund raised its holdings in shares of Protagonist Therapeutics by 9.5% during the 1st quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 19,582 shares of the company's stock worth $947,000 after buying an additional 1,700 shares in the last quarter. Royce & Associates LP bought a new position in Protagonist Therapeutics in the first quarter valued at about $593,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in 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 acquiring an additional 728 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 98.63% of the company's stock.

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.