Protagonist Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:PTGX) Director William D. Waddill Sells 4,000 Shares

Protagonist Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:PTGX) Director William D. Waddill sold 4,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $54.25, for a total transaction of $217,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 13,130 shares in the company, valued at $712,302.50. The trade was a 23.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink.

Protagonist Therapeutics Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:PTGX opened at $54.35 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $3.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.43 and a beta of 2.34. Protagonist Therapeutics, Inc. has a 12 month low of $24.22 and a 12 month high of $60.60. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $40.58 and its 200 day moving average price is $42.48.

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of Protagonist Therapeutics by 405,061.2% in the third quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 1,734,090 shares of the company’s stock worth $78,034,000 after purchasing an additional 1,733,662 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its position in Protagonist Therapeutics by 52.9% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,183,542 shares of the company’s stock worth $143,259,000 after buying an additional 1,101,218 shares during the period. Deep Track Capital LP acquired a new position in shares of Protagonist Therapeutics during the fourth quarter worth approximately $38,600,000. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in shares of Protagonist Therapeutics by 3,025.4% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 940,077 shares of the company’s stock valued at $36,287,000 after acquiring an additional 909,998 shares during the period. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. grew its stake in shares of Protagonist Therapeutics by 61.5% in the fourth quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 928,286 shares of the company’s stock worth $35,832,000 after acquiring an additional 353,511 shares during the last quarter. 98.63% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have weighed in on PTGX shares. HC Wainwright restated a “buy” rating and issued a $54.00 price target on shares of Protagonist Therapeutics in a research note on Monday, March 10th. 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 report on Monday, February 24th. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $70.00 price target on shares of Protagonist Therapeutics in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on shares of Protagonist Therapeutics from $62.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Protagonist Therapeutics from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Protagonist Therapeutics currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $62.56.

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.