Protagonist Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:PTGX) Receives Average Recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from Brokerages

Key Points

• Protagonist Therapeutics, Inc. has received an average recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from twelve analysts, with a consensus target price of $72.00.
• Recent quarterly earnings showed a loss of ($0.55) per share, which was slightly below expectations, with reported revenue of $5.55 million.
• Insider transactions included significant stock sales, with CEO Dinesh V. Patel selling 10,415 shares and Director William D. Waddill selling 12,000 shares recently, indicating potential changes in insider confidence.

Shares of Protagonist Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:PTGX - Get Free Report) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the twelve analysts that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, one has issued a hold recommendation, nine have issued a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year target price among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $72.00.

Several research firms have recently weighed in on PTGX. HC Wainwright restated a "buy" rating and set a $80.00 price objective on shares of Protagonist Therapeutics in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Barclays began coverage on shares of Protagonist Therapeutics in a research report on Wednesday, September 17th. They set an "overweight" rating and a $72.00 price objective for the company. BMO Capital Markets restated an "outperform" rating on shares of Protagonist Therapeutics in a research report on Monday. Leerink Partners initiated coverage on shares of Protagonist Therapeutics in a research note on Friday, September 12th. They set an "outperform" rating and a $73.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Citigroup reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of Protagonist Therapeutics in a research note on Thursday, August 7th.

Protagonist Therapeutics Trading Down 2.5%

NASDAQ:PTGX opened at $75.73 on Friday. Protagonist Therapeutics has a twelve month low of $33.31 and a twelve month high of $93.25. The company has a 50-day moving average of $62.02 and a 200-day moving average of $53.83. The firm has a market cap of $4.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 108.19 and a beta of 2.20.

Protagonist Therapeutics (NASDAQ:PTGX - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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). Protagonist Therapeutics had a net margin of 24.88% and a return on equity of 8.12%. The business had revenue of $5.55 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.32 million. On average, research analysts forecast that Protagonist Therapeutics will post 2.43 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Protagonist Therapeutics

In other Protagonist Therapeutics news, CEO Dinesh V. Ph D. Patel sold 10,415 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $54.78, for a total transaction of $570,533.70. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 520,603 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $28,518,632.34. This represents a 1.96% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director William D. Waddill sold 12,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.62, for a total transaction of $979,440.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 5,130 shares of the company's stock, valued at $418,710.60. This represents a 70.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 82,859 shares of company stock valued at $4,924,017 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 4.90% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Protagonist Therapeutics

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of PTGX. FNY Investment Advisers LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Protagonist Therapeutics in the second quarter worth approximately $27,000. Bessemer Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Protagonist Therapeutics by 171.0% in the second quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 504 shares of the company's stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 318 shares in the last quarter. CWM LLC lifted its position in shares of Protagonist Therapeutics by 201.5% in the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 609 shares of the company's stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 407 shares in the last quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. lifted its position in shares of Protagonist Therapeutics by 79.5% in the second quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 1,185 shares of the company's stock worth $65,000 after purchasing an additional 525 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in shares of Protagonist Therapeutics by 153.3% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,203 shares of the company's stock worth $58,000 after purchasing an additional 728 shares in the last quarter. 98.63% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.