Protagonist Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:PTGX) Short Interest Down 13.6% in May

Protagonist Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:PTGX - Get Free Report) was the target of a significant drop in short interest in May. As of May 15th, there was short interest totalling 5,290,000 shares, a drop of 13.6% from the April 30th total of 6,120,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 1,250,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 4.2 days. Approximately 9.4% of the company's stock are short sold.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on PTGX shares. BTIG Research set a $73.00 target price on Protagonist Therapeutics in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their target price on shares of Protagonist Therapeutics from $43.00 to $38.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 24th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on shares of Protagonist Therapeutics from $62.00 to $72.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. Truist Financial upped their price objective on shares of Protagonist Therapeutics from $60.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. Finally, Wedbush reiterated an "outperform" rating and issued a $70.00 price objective on shares of Protagonist Therapeutics in a report on Friday, March 28th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $65.44.

Protagonist Therapeutics Stock Performance

NASDAQ PTGX traded up $0.56 on Friday, reaching $54.38. The company had a trading volume of 1,073,526 shares, compared to its average volume of 890,259. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.44 and a beta of 2.25. Protagonist Therapeutics has a 1-year low of $30.67 and a 1-year high of $60.60. The company's fifty day moving average is $45.60 and its 200-day moving average is $43.03.

Protagonist Therapeutics (NASDAQ:PTGX - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 6th. The company reported ($0.19) EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.50) by $0.31. Protagonist Therapeutics had a net margin of 52.76% and a return on equity of 34.68%. The company had revenue of $28.32 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $30.44 million. On average, research analysts forecast that Protagonist Therapeutics will post 2.43 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Protagonist Therapeutics news, CFO Asif Ali sold 1,756 shares of Protagonist Therapeutics stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $46.00, for a total value of $80,776.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 61,065 shares in the company, valued at $2,808,990. The trade was a 2.80% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Arturo Md Molina sold 30,514 shares of Protagonist Therapeutics stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.74, for a total value of $1,700,850.36. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 83,892 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,676,140.08. The trade was a 26.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 61,173 shares of company stock worth $3,461,180. Corporate insiders own 4.90% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Inspire Investing LLC boosted its position in Protagonist Therapeutics by 106.9% in the first quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 21,834 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,056,000 after buying an additional 11,279 shares in the last quarter. Strs Ohio bought a new position in Protagonist Therapeutics during the first quarter worth $919,000. Focus Partners Wealth raised its stake in Protagonist Therapeutics by 2.2% during the first quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 435,097 shares of the company's stock worth $21,041,000 after buying an additional 9,540 shares during the last quarter. Woodline Partners LP increased its stake in Protagonist Therapeutics by 54.2% in the first quarter. Woodline Partners LP now owns 897,699 shares of the company's stock valued at $43,413,000 after purchasing an additional 315,372 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC bought a new stake in Protagonist Therapeutics in the first quarter valued at $4,958,000. 98.63% of the stock is owned by 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.