Wedbush Analysts Increase Earnings Estimates for PTGX

Key Points

• Wedbush raised its earnings per share (EPS) estimate for Protagonist Therapeutics for FY2029 from $2.30 to $2.38, while the consensus estimate stands at $2.43 per share.
• Protagonist Therapeutics reported a quarterly EPS of ($0.55), missing expectations of ($0.53), and generated revenue of $5.55 million, below the forecast of $8.32 million.
• Insider trading activity included the sale of shares by CEO Dinesh Patel and insider Arturo Md Molina, with a total of $4,020,877 in shares sold over the last three months.

Protagonist Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:PTGX - Free Report) - Equities researchers at Wedbush upped their FY2029 EPS estimates for shares of Protagonist Therapeutics in a research note issued on Thursday, August 7th. Wedbush analyst Y. Zhong now forecasts that the company will post earnings of $2.38 per share for the year, up from their previous forecast of $2.30. The consensus estimate for Protagonist Therapeutics' current full-year earnings is $2.43 per share.

PTGX has been the topic of several other reports. Citigroup reissued an "outperform" rating on shares of Protagonist Therapeutics in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. JMP Securities lifted their price objective on shares of Protagonist Therapeutics from $67.00 to $69.00 and gave the company a "market outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. HC Wainwright reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $80.00 price objective on shares of Protagonist Therapeutics in a research note on Tuesday, June 3rd. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Protagonist Therapeutics from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Sunday, June 8th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Protagonist Therapeutics presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $67.20.

Protagonist Therapeutics Trading Up 1.5%

Shares of PTGX traded up $0.78 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $54.53. The company had a trading volume of 541,716 shares, compared to its average volume of 945,091. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $53.95 and a 200-day simple moving average of $47.59. Protagonist Therapeutics has a 12-month low of $33.31 and a 12-month high of $60.60. The company has a market capitalization of $3.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 77.90 and a beta of 2.33.

Protagonist Therapeutics (NASDAQ:PTGX - Get Free Report) last issued 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). The firm had revenue of $5.55 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $8.32 million. Protagonist Therapeutics had a net margin of 24.88% and a return on equity of 8.12%.

Insider Activity at Protagonist Therapeutics

In other news, CEO Dinesh V. Ph D. Patel sold 22,065 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.05, for a total transaction of $1,214,678.25. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 548,538 shares in the company, valued at $30,197,016.90. The trade was a 3.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Arturo Md Molina sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.03, for a total transaction of $570,300.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 83,892 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,784,360.76. This trade represents a 10.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 72,859 shares of company stock worth $4,020,877. Corporate insiders own 4.90% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Protagonist Therapeutics

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Protagonist Therapeutics by 30.4% during the second quarter. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. now owns 824,019 shares of the company's stock worth $45,544,000 after buying an additional 192,126 shares during the last quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. raised its stake in shares of Protagonist Therapeutics by 32.6% in the 2nd quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. now owns 77,408 shares of the company's stock valued at $4,278,000 after purchasing an additional 19,050 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its stake in Protagonist Therapeutics by 18.7% in the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 813,995 shares of the company's stock valued at $44,990,000 after acquiring an additional 128,171 shares in the last quarter. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC bought a new stake in Protagonist Therapeutics in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $6,641,000. Finally, Rhumbline Advisers lifted its stake in Protagonist Therapeutics by 6.8% in the 2nd quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 173,028 shares of the company's stock valued at $9,563,000 after acquiring an additional 10,963 shares in 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.