Protagonist Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:PTGX) Director Sells $217,000.00 in Stock

Protagonist Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:PTGX) Director William D. Waddill sold 4,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $54.25, for a total value of $217,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 13,130 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $712,302.50. This represents a 23.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website.

Protagonist Therapeutics Stock Performance

NASDAQ:PTGX opened at $54.35 on Thursday. Protagonist Therapeutics, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $24.22 and a fifty-two week high of $60.60. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $40.58 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $42.48. The company has a market capitalization of $3.34 billion, a PE ratio of 20.43 and a beta of 2.34.

Protagonist Therapeutics (NASDAQ:PTGX) last posted its quarterly 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 firm had revenue of $170.64 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $56.65 million. Research analysts predict that Protagonist Therapeutics, Inc. will post 2.43 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Protagonist Therapeutics

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its stake in Protagonist Therapeutics by 127.2% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 81,591 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,782,000 after acquiring an additional 45,674 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB purchased a new position in Protagonist Therapeutics in the third quarter valued at approximately $2,250,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in Protagonist Therapeutics by 7.6% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 565,503 shares of the company’s stock worth $25,448,000 after buying an additional 39,850 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its position in Protagonist Therapeutics by 3,099.4% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 320,832 shares of the company’s stock worth $14,437,000 after buying an additional 310,804 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Intech Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in Protagonist Therapeutics in the third quarter worth $861,000. Institutional investors own 98.63% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have issued reports on the company. StockNews.com downgraded Protagonist Therapeutics from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $70.00 price target on shares of Protagonist Therapeutics in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Protagonist Therapeutics from $53.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. HC Wainwright restated a “buy” rating and set a $54.00 target price on shares of Protagonist Therapeutics in a research report on Monday, March 10th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on shares of Protagonist Therapeutics from $62.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Protagonist Therapeutics currently has an average 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.