Protagonist Therapeutics (NASDAQ:PTGX) Upgraded by Wall Street Zen to Strong-Buy Rating

Key Points

• Wall Street Zen upgraded Protagonist Therapeutics to “strong buy” from “buy.” Across analysts, the stock carries a “moderate buy” consensus with an average price target of $140.53.
• PTGX opened at $154.32, up 2.4%, near its 52-week high of $160.81. The company also topped quarterly EPS and revenue estimates, reporting $2.29 per share and $213.47 million in revenue.
• Insiders sold 127,000 shares worth $17.8 million over the last quarter, while institutional investors own a substantial 98.63% stake in the company.

Protagonist Therapeutics (NASDAQ:PTGX - Get Free Report) was upgraded by investment analysts at Wall Street Zen from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note issued to investors on Saturday.

Other research analysts also recently issued reports about the company. TD Cowen reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Protagonist Therapeutics in a research note on Wednesday, July 1st. Weiss Ratings raised Protagonist Therapeutics from a "sell (d+)" rating to a "hold (c+)" rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 11th. Johnson Rice set a $165.00 price objective on Protagonist Therapeutics in a report on Friday, July 17th. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on Protagonist Therapeutics from $112.00 to $178.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, August 17th. Finally, Citigroup increased their target price on Protagonist Therapeutics from $130.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, August 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have given a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $140.53.

Protagonist Therapeutics Trading Up 2.4%

PTGX opened at $154.32 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $134.70 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $110.16. Protagonist Therapeutics has a 1-year low of $54.50 and a 1-year high of $160.81. The company has a market cap of $9.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 149.83 and a beta of 1.78.

Protagonist Therapeutics (NASDAQ:PTGX - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 5th. The company reported $2.29 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.27 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $213.47 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $212.03 million. Protagonist Therapeutics had a net margin of 29.40% and a return on equity of 12.03%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 3746.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that Protagonist Therapeutics will post 4.22 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Protagonist Therapeutics

In other Protagonist Therapeutics news, CEO Dinesh V. Ph D. Patel sold 65,761 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $149.11, for a total transaction of $9,805,622.71. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 523,478 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $78,055,804.58. The trade was a 11.16% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director William D. Waddill sold 9,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $117.94, for a total value of $1,061,460.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 7,825 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $922,880.50. This trade represents a 53.49% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold a total of 127,000 shares of company stock valued at $17,818,139 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 5.19% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of PTGX. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in Protagonist Therapeutics in the 2nd quarter valued at $1,263,535,000. Johnson & Johnson bought a new position in Protagonist Therapeutics during the 2nd quarter valued at $300,220,852,000. Jupiter Topco LLC purchased a new position in Protagonist Therapeutics during the 2nd quarter worth $261,039,000. Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its holdings in Protagonist Therapeutics by 140.7% during the 4th quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 2,649,981 shares of the company's stock worth $231,355,000 after acquiring an additional 1,549,160 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE purchased a new position in Protagonist Therapeutics during the 2nd quarter worth $162,357,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.63% of the company's stock.

About Protagonist Therapeutics

Protagonist Therapeutics, Inc NASDAQ: PTGX is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the development of novel, orally administered peptide-based therapies for immune-mediated and other serious diseases. The company leverages its proprietary Peptide 2.0 platform to design peptides that target G protein–coupled receptors and cytokine receptors, with the goal of combining the potency of biologics with the convenience of oral administration. Protagonist's approach aims to address unmet medical needs in areas where injectable therapies have been the standard of care.

Among its lead programs is PTG-100, an oral α4β7 integrin antagonist intended to block leukocyte migration to the gut in ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease.

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