Wedbush Reaffirms “Outperform” Rating for Protagonist Therapeutics (NASDAQ:PTGX)

Protagonist Therapeutics (NASDAQ:PTGX)‘s stock had its “outperform” rating restated by stock analysts at Wedbush in a research report issued on Friday,RTT News reports. They presently have a $58.00 price target on the stock. Wedbush’s price target would indicate a potential upside of 49.68% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other equities research analysts also recently weighed in on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on shares of Protagonist Therapeutics in a report on Friday, December 6th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $47.00 price objective for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Protagonist Therapeutics from $51.00 to $53.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. StockNews.com downgraded Protagonist Therapeutics from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. BMO Capital Markets assumed coverage on Protagonist Therapeutics in a report on Friday, December 6th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $62.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and set a $58.00 price objective on shares of Protagonist Therapeutics in a report on Friday, February 7th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $56.00.

Protagonist Therapeutics Price Performance

Shares of PTGX opened at $38.75 on Friday. Protagonist Therapeutics has a 1-year low of $24.22 and a 1-year high of $48.89. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $38.37 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $41.85. The stock has a market cap of $2.31 billion, a PE ratio of 14.57 and a beta of 2.22.

Protagonist Therapeutics (NASDAQ:PTGX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 21st. The company reported $1.98 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.09) by $2.07. Protagonist Therapeutics had a net margin of 52.76% and a return on equity of 34.68%. The company had revenue of $170.64 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $56.65 million. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Protagonist Therapeutics will post 2.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Protagonist Therapeutics news, insider Arturo Md Molina sold 26,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $44.70, for a total transaction of $1,162,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 46,444 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,076,046.80. This represents a 35.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Dinesh V. Ph D. Patel sold 5,359 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $38.18, for a total value of $204,606.62. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 540,260 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,627,126.80. The trade was a 0.98 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 213,316 shares of company stock valued at $9,816,345 over the last 90 days. 5.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Protagonist Therapeutics

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. FNY Investment Advisers LLC bought a new stake in shares of Protagonist Therapeutics in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $38,000. GF Fund Management CO. LTD. bought a new stake in shares of Protagonist Therapeutics in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $48,000. CWM LLC boosted its position in shares of Protagonist Therapeutics by 910.3% in the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,273 shares of the company’s stock valued at $57,000 after acquiring an additional 1,147 shares during the period. Covestor Ltd boosted its position in shares of Protagonist Therapeutics by 5,200.0% in the fourth quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 1,643 shares of the company’s stock valued at $63,000 after acquiring an additional 1,612 shares during the period. Finally, Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Protagonist Therapeutics in the third quarter valued at approximately $69,000. 98.63% of the stock is 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.