Protagonist Therapeutics (NASDAQ:PTGX) Hits New 12-Month High – Time to Buy?

Protagonist Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:PTGX)’s share price reached a new 52-week high on Saturday . The company traded as high as $93.25 and last traded at $87.00, with a volume of 7059498 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $67.04.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

PTGX has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. JMP Securities boosted their target price on shares of Protagonist Therapeutics from $67.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. Leerink Partnrs upgraded shares of Protagonist Therapeutics to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 12th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Protagonist Therapeutics in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Citigroup reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Protagonist Therapeutics in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. Finally, Barclays started coverage on Protagonist Therapeutics in a report on Wednesday, September 17th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $72.00 price objective on the stock. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $68.83.

Protagonist Therapeutics Trading Up 29.8%

The stock has a market capitalization of $5.41 billion, a PE ratio of 124.29 and a beta of 2.20. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $60.08 and its 200 day simple moving average is $53.10.

Protagonist Therapeutics (NASDAQ:PTGX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 6th. The company reported ($0.55) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.53) by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $5.55 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.32 million. Protagonist Therapeutics had a net margin of 24.88% and a return on equity of 8.12%. As a group, analysts predict that Protagonist Therapeutics, Inc. will post 2.43 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other Protagonist Therapeutics news, CEO Dinesh V. Ph D. Patel sold 10,415 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $54.78, for a total value of $570,533.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 520,603 shares in the company, valued at approximately $28,518,632.34. This represents a 1.96% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director William D. Waddill sold 4,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.25, for a total transaction of $257,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 5,130 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $329,602.50. This trade represents a 43.81% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 70,859 shares of company stock worth $3,944,577. 4.90% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in PTGX. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Protagonist Therapeutics by 153.3% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,203 shares of the company’s stock valued at $58,000 after acquiring an additional 728 shares in the last quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Protagonist Therapeutics by 2,572.4% in the first quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 27,392 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,325,000 after acquiring an additional 26,367 shares in the last quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System boosted its holdings in shares of Protagonist Therapeutics by 90.5% in the first quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System now owns 46,855 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,266,000 after acquiring an additional 22,263 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Protagonist Therapeutics by 2.7% in the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 347,095 shares of the company’s stock valued at $16,786,000 after acquiring an additional 9,286 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Moody Aldrich Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Protagonist Therapeutics by 142.5% during the first quarter. Moody Aldrich Partners LLC now owns 163,483 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,906,000 after buying an additional 96,068 shares in the last quarter. 98.63% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.