Protara Therapeutics Target of Unusually Large Options Trading (NASDAQ:TARA)

Protara Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:TARA) saw unusually large options trading on Wednesday. Traders bought 2,120 call options on the company. This is an increase of 546% compared to the average volume of 328 call options.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently commented on TARA shares. HC Wainwright reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $23.00 price objective on shares of Protara Therapeutics in a research note on Tuesday, February 10th. Piper Sandler started coverage on Protara Therapeutics in a research note on Wednesday, January 7th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $24.00 price objective on the stock. TD Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Protara Therapeutics in a research note on Tuesday, March 10th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Protara Therapeutics in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. started coverage on Protara Therapeutics in a research note on Wednesday, March 4th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $27.00 price objective on the stock. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $21.40.

Protara Therapeutics Stock Performance

Shares of TARA opened at $5.22 on Thursday. Protara Therapeutics has a 52-week low of $2.77 and a 52-week high of $7.82. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $5.91 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $5.64. The firm has a market cap of $282.30 million, a PE ratio of -3.95 and a beta of 1.50.

Protara Therapeutics (NASDAQ:TARA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, March 10th. The company reported ($0.37) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.34) by ($0.03). Research analysts predict that Protara Therapeutics will post -3.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Protara Therapeutics

In related news, insider Jacqueline Zummo sold 22,598 shares of Protara Therapeutics stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $5.26, for a total value of $118,865.48. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 95,961 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $504,754.86. The trade was a 19.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 8.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Protara Therapeutics

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its stake in Protara Therapeutics by 21.5% in the fourth quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 5,141,616 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,379,000 after buying an additional 910,285 shares during the period. Velan Capital Investment Management LP lifted its stake in Protara Therapeutics by 32.5% in the fourth quarter. Velan Capital Investment Management LP now owns 2,834,652 shares of the company’s stock valued at $15,109,000 after buying an additional 695,652 shares during the period. Integral Health Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in Protara Therapeutics by 60.7% in the fourth quarter. Integral Health Asset Management LLC now owns 2,250,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $11,992,000 after buying an additional 850,000 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Protara Therapeutics by 5.7% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,904,156 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,283,000 after buying an additional 102,176 shares during the period. Finally, Acorn Capital Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Protara Therapeutics by 36.9% in the second quarter. Acorn Capital Advisors LLC now owns 1,752,115 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,309,000 after buying an additional 472,315 shares during the period. 38.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Protara Therapeutics Company Profile

Protara Therapeutics, Inc is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on developing novel immunotherapies for virus-driven cancers. The company’s primary areas of research include human papillomavirus (HPV)–associated malignancies, where it seeks to harness and enhance the body’s immune response to target tumor cells. Protara’s therapeutic strategy combines antigen-specific vaccination approaches with modulators of T-cell activation to improve clinical outcomes in patients with HPV-mediated disease.

Protara’s lead immunotherapy candidate is PTX-35, an investigational monoclonal antibody designed to agonize OX40, a co-stimulatory receptor on T cells.