Protagonist Therapeutics (NASDAQ:PTGX) Stock Price Expected to Rise, Wedbush Analyst Says

Protagonist Therapeutics (NASDAQ:PTGX) had its price objective increased by equities researchers at Wedbush from $112.00 to $118.00 in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an “outperform” rating on the stock. Wedbush’s target price indicates a potential upside of 18.94% from the company’s current price.

A number of other analysts have also recently commented on the stock. Truist Financial upped their target price on shares of Protagonist Therapeutics from $110.00 to $121.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 14th. Citigroup reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Protagonist Therapeutics in a report on Wednesday. Johnson Rice reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Protagonist Therapeutics in a report on Wednesday, March 18th. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $121.00 target price on shares of Protagonist Therapeutics in a report on Wednesday, March 18th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on shares of Protagonist Therapeutics from $65.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 3rd. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $110.62.

Protagonist Therapeutics Stock Down 0.3%

PTGX opened at $99.21 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $98.82 and a 200-day moving average price of $89.07. Protagonist Therapeutics has a twelve month low of $41.28 and a twelve month high of $107.84. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -48.40 and a beta of 1.89.

Protagonist Therapeutics (NASDAQ:PTGX) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 25th. The company reported ($0.69) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.53) by ($0.16). Protagonist Therapeutics had a negative net margin of 282.83% and a negative return on equity of 19.89%. The business had revenue of $7.44 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.92 million. As a group, analysts expect that Protagonist Therapeutics will post 1.02 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Protagonist Therapeutics news, Director Lewis T. Williams sold 18,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $82.42, for a total value of $1,483,560.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 7,825 shares in the company, valued at $644,936.50. This represents a 69.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Dinesh V. Ph D. Patel sold 54,641 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $101.00, for a total transaction of $5,518,741.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 524,938 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $53,018,738. The trade was a 9.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 158,215 shares of company stock valued at $15,539,786. Insiders own 4.90% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Protagonist Therapeutics

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Farallon Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Protagonist Therapeutics by 0.4% in the third quarter. Farallon Capital Management LLC now owns 6,196,006 shares of the company’s stock worth $411,601,000 after purchasing an additional 24,000 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its position in shares of Protagonist Therapeutics by 2,043.8% in the third quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 41,246 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,740,000 after purchasing an additional 39,322 shares during the period. Mangrove Partners IM LLC boosted its position in shares of Protagonist Therapeutics by 21.0% in the third quarter. Mangrove Partners IM LLC now owns 478,413 shares of the company’s stock worth $31,781,000 after purchasing an additional 83,030 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC bought a new position in shares of Protagonist Therapeutics in the fourth quarter worth approximately $28,924,000. Finally, Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH boosted its position in shares of Protagonist Therapeutics by 123.1% in the third quarter. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH now owns 90,317 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,000,000 after purchasing an additional 49,833 shares during the period. 98.63% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Protagonist Therapeutics

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.