Zacks Research Upgrades Protagonist Therapeutics (NASDAQ:PTGX) to Strong-Buy

Protagonist Therapeutics (NASDAQ:PTGX) was upgraded by equities researchers at Zacks Research from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday, Zacks reports.

Several other brokerages have also weighed in on PTGX. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Protagonist Therapeutics from $153.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 1st. Johnson Rice set a $165.00 price target on shares of Protagonist Therapeutics in a research note on Friday, July 17th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on shares of Protagonist Therapeutics from $178.00 to $190.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 1st. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Protagonist Therapeutics from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Thursday, October 8th. Finally, HC Wainwright upped their price objective on shares of Protagonist Therapeutics from $167.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, August 31st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and sixteen have given a Buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Protagonist Therapeutics has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $154.44.

Protagonist Therapeutics Stock Up 0.2%

NASDAQ:PTGX opened at $136.55 on Wednesday. Protagonist Therapeutics has a 52 week low of $73.08 and a 52 week high of $160.81. The company has a market capitalization of $8.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 132.57 and a beta of 1.53. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $145.73 and its two-hundred day moving average is $124.91.

Protagonist Therapeutics (NASDAQ:PTGX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The company reported $2.29 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.27 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $213.47 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $212.03 million. Protagonist Therapeutics had a return on equity of 12.03% and a net margin of 29.40%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 3746.8% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Protagonist Therapeutics will post 4.22 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Dinsesh Patel sold 65,761 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 523,478 shares in the company, valued at $78,055,804.58. This trade represents a 11.16% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO Asif Ali sold 58,629 shares of Protagonist Therapeutics stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $141.78, for a total value of $8,312,419.62. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 59,003 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,365,445.34. This represents a 49.84% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last three months, insiders have sold 283,629 shares of company stock worth $41,443,786. 5.19% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Protagonist Therapeutics

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. increased its stake in Protagonist Therapeutics by 7.8% during the 1st quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 2,760 shares of the company’s stock worth $291,000 after buying an additional 200 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in Protagonist Therapeutics by 7.2% during the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,109 shares of the company’s stock worth $381,000 after buying an additional 208 shares in the last quarter. Keating Financial Advisory Services Inc. acquired a new stake in Protagonist Therapeutics during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $30,000. Allworth Financial LP purchased a new position in Protagonist Therapeutics in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Finally, Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. boosted its position in Protagonist Therapeutics by 10.5% in the 4th quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 3,292 shares of the company’s stock valued at $288,000 after buying an additional 312 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.63% of the company’s stock.

Protagonist Therapeutics Company Profile

Protagonist Therapeutics, Inc (NASDAQ:PTGX) is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on developing peptide-based medicines for chronic immune-mediated and hematologic diseases. The company uses its proprietary technology platform to design peptides intended to selectively interact with disease-relevant biological targets.

Protagonist’s pipeline includes icotrokinra, formerly known as JNJ-2113, an investigational oral peptide that selectively targets the interleukin-23 receptor.