TD Cowen Upgrades Protagonist Therapeutics (NASDAQ:PTGX) to “Strong-Buy”

Protagonist Therapeutics (NASDAQ:PTGX) was upgraded by TD Cowen to a “strong-buy” rating in a report issued on Wednesday, Zacks.com reports.

PTGX has been the subject of a number of other reports. BTIG Research lifted their price target on shares of Protagonist Therapeutics from $41.00 to $51.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Truist Financial initiated coverage on Protagonist Therapeutics in a research report on Monday, September 9th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $60.00 target price for the company. HC Wainwright upped their price target on Protagonist Therapeutics from $40.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Protagonist Therapeutics from $39.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Finally, JMP Securities lowered their target price on Protagonist Therapeutics from $45.00 to $43.00 and set a “market outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Protagonist Therapeutics presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $49.86.

Protagonist Therapeutics Stock Performance

NASDAQ:PTGX opened at $44.93 on Wednesday. Protagonist Therapeutics has a 52 week low of $13.72 and a 52 week high of $48.00. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $41.40 and its 200-day moving average is $34.05. The firm has a market cap of $2.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.41 and a beta of 2.17.

Protagonist Therapeutics (NASDAQ:PTGX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 6th. The company reported ($0.50) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.50). The business had revenue of $4.17 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $40.00 million. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Protagonist Therapeutics will post 2.31 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director William D. Waddill sold 8,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.00, for a total transaction of $360,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 12,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $540,000. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, CFO Asif Ali sold 14,203 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $44.49, for a total transaction of $631,891.47. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 34,960 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,555,370.40. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director William D. Waddill sold 8,000 shares of Protagonist Therapeutics stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.00, for a total value of $360,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 12,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $540,000. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 30,203 shares of company stock valued at $1,311,891. Company insiders own 5.40% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Protagonist Therapeutics

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in PTGX. Millennium Management LLC raised its position in shares of Protagonist Therapeutics by 2,135.6% in the second quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 958,283 shares of the company’s stock valued at $33,205,000 after purchasing an additional 915,418 shares during the period. Superstring Capital Management LP purchased a new position in Protagonist Therapeutics in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $8,694,000. Perceptive Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Protagonist Therapeutics by 27.6% during the 2nd quarter. Perceptive Advisors LLC now owns 1,268,735 shares of the company’s stock valued at $43,962,000 after acquiring an additional 274,412 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC raised its holdings in Protagonist Therapeutics by 813.4% during the 2nd quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 297,467 shares of the company’s stock valued at $10,307,000 after acquiring an additional 264,900 shares during the period. Finally, ADAR1 Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Protagonist Therapeutics during the fourth quarter worth $4,606,000. Institutional investors 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.