Protagonist Therapeutics (NASDAQ:PTGX) Stock Rating Raised to Strong-Buy at UBS Group

Protagonist Therapeutics (NASDAQ:PTGX) was upgraded by analysts at UBS Group to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note issued on Monday, Zacks reports.

Several other research analysts have also weighed in on the stock. HC Wainwright lifted their price objective on shares of Protagonist Therapeutics from $167.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, August 31st. Johnson Rice set a $165.00 price objective on shares of Protagonist Therapeutics in a report on Friday, July 17th. TD Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Protagonist Therapeutics in a research note on Wednesday, July 1st. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Protagonist Therapeutics from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday. Finally, Zacks Research lowered shares of Protagonist Therapeutics from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, August 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have issued a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Protagonist Therapeutics has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $154.44.

Protagonist Therapeutics Trading Down 4.4%

Shares of PTGX opened at $138.49 on Monday. Protagonist Therapeutics has a 1 year low of $73.08 and a 1 year high of $160.81. The stock has a market cap of $8.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 140.66 and a beta of 1.53. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $145.94 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $124.41.

Protagonist Therapeutics (NASDAQ:PTGX) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The company reported $2.29 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.27 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $213.47 million during 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 firm’s revenue was up 3746.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Protagonist Therapeutics will post 4.22 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Dinsesh Patel sold 65,761 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $149.11, for a total value 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 approximately $78,055,804.58. The trade was a 11.16% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO Asif Ali sold 58,629 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 owned 59,003 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,365,445.34. This represents a 49.84% 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 have sold a total of 283,629 shares of company stock worth $41,443,786 in the last quarter. 5.19% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of PTGX. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Protagonist Therapeutics in the second quarter valued at approximately $1,263,535,000. Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its position 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 in the last quarter. Johnson & Johnson acquired a new stake in shares of Protagonist Therapeutics during the second quarter worth $300,220,852. Jupiter Topco LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Protagonist Therapeutics during the second quarter worth $261,039,000. Finally, Perceptive Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Protagonist Therapeutics by 31.1% during the fourth quarter. Perceptive Advisors LLC now owns 1,350,425 shares of the company’s stock worth $117,946,000 after acquiring an additional 320,291 shares during the period. Institutional investors 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.