Protagonist Therapeutics (NASDAQ:PTGX) Earns Buy Rating from HC Wainwright

Key Points

• Protagonist Therapeutics has received a "buy" rating from HC Wainwright, with a price target of $80.00, indicating a potential upside of 31.96% from its previous closing price.
• The stock currently holds a consensus rating of "Buy" backed by multiple analysts, with an average price target of $68.08 and two analysts rating it as a "Strong Buy."
• Protagonist Therapeutics reported a quarterly earnings miss, with an EPS of ($0.55) compared to expectations of ($0.53), along with significantly lower revenue than analysts predicted.

HC Wainwright reissued their buy rating on shares of Protagonist Therapeutics (NASDAQ:PTGX - Free Report) in a research report released on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. HC Wainwright currently has a $80.00 target price on the stock.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. JMP Securities increased their target price on Protagonist Therapeutics from $67.00 to $69.00 and gave the company a "market outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. Leerink Partnrs raised Protagonist Therapeutics to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Friday, September 12th. Leerink Partners started coverage on Protagonist Therapeutics in a research report on Friday, September 12th. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $73.00 target price on the stock. Barclays initiated coverage on Protagonist Therapeutics in a research report on Wednesday. They issued an "overweight" rating and a $72.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised Protagonist Therapeutics from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Sunday, June 8th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $68.08.

Protagonist Therapeutics Stock Up 0.1%

Shares of Protagonist Therapeutics stock traded up $0.06 on Wednesday, hitting $62.20. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,461,714 shares, compared to its average volume of 963,430. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $56.56 and a 200-day moving average price of $51.45. Protagonist Therapeutics has a 52-week low of $33.31 and a 52-week high of $63.30. The company has a market capitalization of $3.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 88.86 and a beta of 2.22.

Protagonist Therapeutics (NASDAQ:PTGX - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results 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 firm had revenue of $5.55 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.32 million. As a group, analysts expect that Protagonist Therapeutics will post 2.43 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Protagonist Therapeutics

In related news, Director William D. Waddill sold 4,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.25, for a total value of $237,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 9,130 shares of the company's stock, valued at $540,952.50. This trade represents a 30.46% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Dinesh V. Ph D. Patel sold 22,065 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.05, for a total value of $1,214,678.25. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 548,538 shares in the company, valued at $30,197,016.90. This trade represents a 3.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 66,859 shares of company stock worth $3,687,577. Company insiders own 4.90% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Protagonist Therapeutics

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in Protagonist Therapeutics by 2.7% in the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 347,095 shares of the company's stock valued at $16,786,000 after buying an additional 9,286 shares during the period. Fred Alger Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Protagonist Therapeutics in the first quarter worth about $362,000. Inspire Investing LLC grew its holdings in shares of Protagonist Therapeutics by 106.9% during the first quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 21,834 shares of the company's stock worth $1,056,000 after buying an additional 11,279 shares in the last quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC grew its holdings in shares of Protagonist Therapeutics by 4.1% during the first quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 8,458 shares of the company's stock worth $405,000 after buying an additional 330 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Axiom Investors LLC DE acquired a new position in Protagonist Therapeutics during the first quarter valued at approximately $1,933,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.