Persistent Asset Partners Ltd Acquires Shares of 17,520 Protagonist Therapeutics, Inc. $PTGX

Persistent Asset Partners Ltd bought a new stake in Protagonist Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:PTGX) during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor bought 17,520 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $968,000.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. FNY Investment Advisers LLC bought a new stake in Protagonist Therapeutics during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $27,000. Bessemer Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Protagonist Therapeutics by 171.0% in the second quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 504 shares of the company’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 318 shares in the last quarter. CWM LLC raised its holdings in shares of Protagonist Therapeutics by 201.5% in the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 609 shares of the company’s stock valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 407 shares during the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Protagonist Therapeutics by 141.7% in the first quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,211 shares of the company’s stock valued at $59,000 after buying an additional 710 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Brooklyn Investment Group acquired a new position in shares of Protagonist Therapeutics during the first quarter worth approximately $68,000. Institutional investors own 98.63% of the company’s stock.

Protagonist Therapeutics Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:PTGX opened at $84.61 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $71.05 and its 200 day simple moving average is $58.93. Protagonist Therapeutics, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $33.31 and a fifty-two week high of $93.25. The company has a market capitalization of $5.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 136.47 and a beta of 2.22.

Protagonist Therapeutics (NASDAQ:PTGX) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, November 6th. The company reported ($0.62) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.59) by ($0.03). The firm had revenue of $4.71 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.41 million. Protagonist Therapeutics had a net margin of 21.94% and a return on equity of 6.86%. Equities research analysts expect that Protagonist Therapeutics, Inc. will post 2.43 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Protagonist Therapeutics

In other Protagonist Therapeutics news, Director William D. Waddill sold 12,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.62, for a total transaction of $979,440.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 5,130 shares in the company, valued at approximately $418,710.60. This trade represents a 70.05% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Over the last three months, insiders sold 20,000 shares of company stock worth $1,473,440. 4.90% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have issued reports on PTGX. JMP Securities upped their price objective on Protagonist Therapeutics from $67.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, August 7th. BMO Capital Markets reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Protagonist Therapeutics in a report on Monday, October 13th. Leerink Partnrs raised Protagonist Therapeutics to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 12th. HC Wainwright restated a “buy” rating and set a $80.00 target price on shares of Protagonist Therapeutics in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Protagonist Therapeutics from $68.00 to $81.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Protagonist Therapeutics presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $82.23.

Protagonist Therapeutics 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.