Protagonist Therapeutics (NASDAQ:PTGX) Shares Gap Up – What’s Next?

Protagonist Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:PTGX) gapped up before the market opened on Monday . The stock had previously closed at $37.59, but opened at $40.81. Protagonist Therapeutics shares last traded at $39.09, with a volume of 324,922 shares changing hands.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. JMP Securities reiterated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $58.00 target price on shares of Protagonist Therapeutics in a report on Friday, February 7th. HC Wainwright reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $54.00 price objective on shares of Protagonist Therapeutics in a research note on Monday. StockNews.com cut Protagonist Therapeutics from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $58.00 price target on shares of Protagonist Therapeutics in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price objective on Protagonist Therapeutics from $43.00 to $38.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 24th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Protagonist Therapeutics has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $55.89.

Protagonist Therapeutics Trading Down 0.5 %

The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $37.89 and a 200 day simple moving average of $41.78. The stock has a market cap of $2.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.45 and a beta of 2.34.

Protagonist Therapeutics (NASDAQ:PTGX) last announced its earnings results on Friday, February 21st. The company reported $1.98 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.09) by $2.07. Protagonist Therapeutics had a net margin of 52.76% and a return on equity of 34.68%. The business had revenue of $170.64 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $56.65 million. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Protagonist Therapeutics, Inc. will post 2.43 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Dinesh V. Ph D. Patel sold 5,359 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $38.18, for a total value of $204,606.62. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 540,260 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,627,126.80. This trade represents a 0.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 5.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Protagonist Therapeutics

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in PTGX. Creative Planning bought a new stake in shares of Protagonist Therapeutics in the 3rd quarter valued at about $338,000. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. increased its position in Protagonist Therapeutics by 21.6% during the third quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 2,130 shares of the company’s stock worth $95,000 after buying an additional 379 shares during the last quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System bought a new stake in Protagonist Therapeutics in the third quarter valued at approximately $1,107,000. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Protagonist Therapeutics in the third quarter valued at approximately $866,000. Finally, Amalgamated Bank boosted its stake in shares of Protagonist Therapeutics by 756.4% during the 3rd quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 17,324 shares of the company’s stock worth $780,000 after acquiring an additional 15,301 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.63% of the company’s stock.

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.