Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. Acquires New Shares in Protagonist Therapeutics, Inc. $PTGX

Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Protagonist Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:PTGX) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 29,161 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,575,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. BlackRock Inc. bought a new stake in Protagonist Therapeutics in the second quarter valued at approximately $1,263,535,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Protagonist Therapeutics by 27.2% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,413,690 shares of the company’s stock worth $472,832,000 after buying an additional 1,156,461 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Protagonist Therapeutics by 18.5% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,207,543 shares of the company’s stock valued at $177,281,000 after buying an additional 500,924 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in shares of Protagonist Therapeutics by 66.2% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 3,171,423 shares of the company’s stock worth $276,992,000 after acquiring an additional 1,262,977 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its holdings in shares of Protagonist Therapeutics by 9.1% during the first quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 2,891,527 shares of the company’s stock worth $304,866,000 after acquiring an additional 241,546 shares during the period. 98.63% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on PTGX. Barclays raised their price objective on Protagonist Therapeutics from $151.00 to $153.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, August 6th. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on Protagonist Therapeutics in a research note on Thursday, May 21st. They set an “outperform” rating and a $135.00 target price on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of Protagonist Therapeutics from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $110.00 to $186.00 in a report on Monday, August 10th. UBS Group raised Protagonist Therapeutics to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, August 10th. Finally, Truist Financial increased their price target on shares of Protagonist Therapeutics from $145.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, August 10th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $140.53.

Protagonist Therapeutics Price Performance

Shares of Protagonist Therapeutics stock opened at $144.33 on Friday. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $138.51 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $112.49. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 140.13 and a beta of 1.78. Protagonist Therapeutics, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $54.50 and a fifty-two week high of $160.81.

Protagonist Therapeutics (NASDAQ:PTGX) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The company reported $2.29 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.27 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $213.47 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $212.03 million. Protagonist Therapeutics had a net margin of 29.40% and a return on equity of 12.03%. The firm’s revenue was up 3746.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that Protagonist Therapeutics, Inc. will post 4.22 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Dinesh V. Ph D. Patel sold 34,239 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $148.52, for a total value of $5,085,176.28. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 523,478 shares in the company, valued at $77,746,952.56. This represents a 6.14% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at 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 Protagonist Therapeutics stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the director directly owned 7,825 shares in the company, valued at $922,880.50. The trade was 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 sold 118,000 shares of company stock valued at $16,921,379 over the last 90 days. 5.19% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Protagonist Therapeutics Company Profile

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.