Protagonist Therapeutics (NASDAQ:PTGX) Stock Price Up 5.6% – Should You Buy?

Protagonist Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:PTGX) shares traded up 5.6% on Monday . The company traded as high as $39.85 and last traded at $39.82. 127,334 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 77% from the average session volume of 553,557 shares. The stock had previously closed at $37.69.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on PTGX shares. BMO Capital Markets began coverage on Protagonist Therapeutics in a research note on Friday, December 6th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $62.00 price target for the company. HC Wainwright reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $50.00 target price on shares of Protagonist Therapeutics in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. StockNews.com downgraded Protagonist Therapeutics from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $58.00 price target on shares of Protagonist Therapeutics in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on shares of Protagonist Therapeutics in a research report on Friday, December 6th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $47.00 price objective on the stock. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $53.78.

Protagonist Therapeutics Stock Down 1.0 %

The stock has a market cap of $2.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.28 and a beta of 2.23. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $39.96 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $41.84.

Protagonist Therapeutics (NASDAQ:PTGX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 7th. The company reported ($0.54) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.59) by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $4.68 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.50 million. Protagonist Therapeutics had a net margin of 52.76% and a return on equity of 34.68%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Protagonist Therapeutics, Inc. will post 2.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Protagonist Therapeutics

In related news, insider Suneel Gupta sold 103,437 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $46.04, for a total transaction of $4,762,239.48. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 256,174 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,794,250.96. This represents a 28.76 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Arturo Md Molina sold 1,906 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.98, for a total value of $78,107.88. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 46,444 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,903,275.12. This trade represents a 3.94 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 209,863 shares of company stock valued at $9,689,847 over the last quarter. 5.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Protagonist Therapeutics

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of PTGX. RTW Investments LP grew its position in Protagonist Therapeutics by 2.6% during the 3rd quarter. RTW Investments LP now owns 5,426,112 shares of the company’s stock worth $244,175,000 after purchasing an additional 139,708 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of Protagonist Therapeutics by 52.9% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,183,542 shares of the company’s stock worth $143,259,000 after buying an additional 1,101,218 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Protagonist Therapeutics by 8.2% during the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 1,876,466 shares of the company’s stock valued at $72,432,000 after buying an additional 142,376 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Protagonist Therapeutics by 0.3% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,374,697 shares of the company’s stock valued at $61,873,000 after buying an additional 3,528 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Millennium Management LLC increased its position in shares of Protagonist Therapeutics by 2,135.6% in the 2nd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 958,283 shares of the company’s stock valued at $33,205,000 after acquiring an additional 915,418 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.63% of the company’s stock.

Protagonist Therapeutics Company Profile

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.