Protagonist Therapeutics' (PTGX) "Sell (D+)" Rating Reaffirmed at Weiss Ratings

Key Points

• Protagonist Therapeutics (NASDAQ:PTGX) has received a "sell (D+)" rating from Weiss Ratings, restating concerns about its stock performance.
• Despite Weiss Ratings' sell rating, other firms like Citigroup and HC Wainwright maintain more optimistic ratings, with the average target price for the stock at $68.83.
• Protagonist's recent quarterly earnings showed a loss of ($0.55) EPS, falling short of analysts' expectations and reflecting ongoing financial challenges.

Protagonist Therapeutics (NASDAQ:PTGX - Get Free Report)'s stock had its "sell (d+)" rating restated by Weiss Ratings in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday,Weiss Ratings reports.

Several other research firms have also commented on PTGX. Citigroup reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of Protagonist Therapeutics in a report on Thursday, August 7th. JMP Securities raised their target price on Protagonist Therapeutics from $67.00 to $69.00 and gave the company a "market outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. Johnson Rice set a $74.00 price objective on Protagonist Therapeutics in a research report on Tuesday. Leerink Partnrs raised Protagonist Therapeutics to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Friday, September 12th. Finally, HC Wainwright reissued a "buy" rating and set a $80.00 target price on shares of Protagonist Therapeutics in a research note on Wednesday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Protagonist Therapeutics presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $68.83.

Protagonist Therapeutics Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ PTGX opened at $65.30 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 93.29 and a beta of 2.20. Protagonist Therapeutics has a 1-year low of $33.31 and a 1-year high of $68.26. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $59.15 and a 200 day moving average price of $52.70.

Protagonist Therapeutics (NASDAQ:PTGX - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The company reported ($0.55) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $8.32 million. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Protagonist Therapeutics will post 2.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Protagonist Therapeutics news, Director William D. Waddill sold 4,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, September 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.25, for a total transaction of $257,000.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 5,130 shares of the company's stock, valued at $329,602.50. This represents a 43.81% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Dinesh V. Ph D. Patel sold 10,415 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, July 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $54.78, for a total value of $570,533.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 520,603 shares in the company, valued at $28,518,632.34. This trade represents a 1.96% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 70,859 shares of company stock worth $3,944,577. 4.90% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Protagonist Therapeutics

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Protagonist Therapeutics by 1.4% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,277,218 shares of the company's stock worth $206,846,000 after purchasing an additional 57,181 shares during the last quarter. BVF Inc. IL increased its stake in shares of Protagonist Therapeutics by 24.7% during the second quarter. BVF Inc. IL now owns 3,211,041 shares of the company's stock valued at $177,474,000 after acquiring an additional 636,026 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its stake in shares of Protagonist Therapeutics by 18.5% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,207,543 shares of the company's stock valued at $177,281,000 after acquiring an additional 500,924 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Protagonist Therapeutics by 1.5% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,444,230 shares of the company's stock valued at $79,833,000 after acquiring an additional 20,671 shares during the period. Finally, Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. grew its position in Protagonist Therapeutics by 218.0% in the second quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. now owns 1,092,262 shares of the company's stock worth $60,369,000 after buying an additional 748,758 shares during the last quarter. 98.63% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.

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