Los Angeles Capital Management LLC Increases Stock Position in Protagonist Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:PTGX)

Los Angeles Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Protagonist Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:PTGX) by 39.7% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 31,366 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 8,920 shares during the quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Protagonist Therapeutics were worth $1,211,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. FNY Investment Advisers LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Protagonist Therapeutics during the 4th quarter valued at about $38,000. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Protagonist Therapeutics during the 3rd quarter valued at about $69,000. KBC Group NV increased its position in shares of Protagonist Therapeutics by 54.4% during the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,093 shares of the company’s stock valued at $81,000 after purchasing an additional 737 shares during the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. increased its position in shares of Protagonist Therapeutics by 21.6% during the 3rd quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 2,130 shares of the company’s stock valued at $95,000 after purchasing an additional 379 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nisa Investment Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Protagonist Therapeutics by 10.4% during the 4th quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 3,133 shares of the company’s stock valued at $121,000 after purchasing an additional 295 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.63% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other Protagonist Therapeutics news, CEO Dinesh V. Ph D. Patel sold 5,359 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $38.18, for a total transaction of $204,606.62. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 540,260 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,627,126.80. This represents a 0.98 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 5.40% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on PTGX shares. BMO Capital Markets started coverage on shares of Protagonist Therapeutics in a research report on Friday, December 6th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $62.00 price target for the company. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and issued a $58.00 price objective on shares of Protagonist Therapeutics in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $58.00 price objective on shares of Protagonist Therapeutics in a research note on Friday, February 21st. StockNews.com downgraded Protagonist Therapeutics from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price objective on Protagonist Therapeutics from $43.00 to $38.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 24th. 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 company. According to MarketBeat.com, Protagonist Therapeutics currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $55.44.

Protagonist Therapeutics Stock Up 3.4 %

Shares of Protagonist Therapeutics stock opened at $37.59 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $37.94 and its 200-day simple moving average is $41.81. Protagonist Therapeutics, Inc. has a 52 week low of $24.22 and a 52 week high of $48.89. The company has a market capitalization of $2.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.13 and a beta of 2.22.

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

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.