Legal & General Group Plc Invests $16.22 Million in Protagonist Therapeutics, Inc. $PTGX

Legal & General Group Plc purchased a new stake in Protagonist Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:PTGX) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 132,351 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,224,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Royal Bank of Canada increased its holdings in shares of Protagonist Therapeutics by 30.6% during the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 9,964 shares of the company’s stock worth $482,000 after purchasing an additional 2,334 shares during the period. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Protagonist Therapeutics by 0.9% in the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 37,403 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,810,000 after buying an additional 348 shares during the period. Millennium Management LLC grew its position in Protagonist Therapeutics by 283.6% during the first quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 134,269 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,493,000 after buying an additional 99,269 shares in the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership acquired a new stake in Protagonist Therapeutics during the second quarter worth approximately $987,000. Finally, Guggenheim Capital LLC increased its stake in Protagonist Therapeutics by 1.6% during the 2nd quarter. Guggenheim Capital LLC now owns 19,208 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,062,000 after acquiring an additional 303 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.63% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Protagonist Therapeutics

In other news, Director William D. Waddill sold 9,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $117.94, for a total value of $1,061,460.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 7,825 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $922,880.50. This represents a 53.49% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Dinesh V. Ph D. Patel sold 65,761 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $149.11, for a total transaction of $9,805,622.71. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 523,478 shares in the company, valued at approximately $78,055,804.58. The trade was a 11.16% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last quarter, insiders sold 118,000 shares of company stock worth $16,921,379. Company insiders own 5.19% of the company’s stock.

Protagonist Therapeutics Price Performance

NASDAQ PTGX opened at $144.33 on Monday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $138.51 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $112.70. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.34 billion, a PE ratio of 140.13 and a beta of 1.78. Protagonist Therapeutics, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $54.50 and a fifty-two week high of $160.81.

Protagonist Therapeutics (NASDAQ:PTGX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The company reported $2.29 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.27 by $0.02. Protagonist Therapeutics had a return on equity of 12.03% and a net margin of 29.40%.The company had revenue of $213.47 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $212.03 million. The company’s revenue was up 3746.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Protagonist Therapeutics, Inc. will post 4.22 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

PTGX has been the subject of several analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on Protagonist Therapeutics from $112.00 to $178.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, August 17th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Protagonist Therapeutics from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 11th. TD Cowen restated a “buy” rating on shares of Protagonist Therapeutics in a research report on Wednesday, July 1st. Barclays boosted their price target on Protagonist Therapeutics from $151.00 to $153.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 6th. Finally, Johnson Rice set a $165.00 price objective on shares of Protagonist Therapeutics in a research note on Friday, July 17th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $140.53.

Protagonist Therapeutics Profile

Protagonist Therapeutics, Inc (NASDAQ: PTGX) is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the development of novel, orally administered peptide-based therapies for immune-mediated and other serious diseases. The company leverages its proprietary Peptide 2.0 platform to design peptides that target G protein–coupled receptors and cytokine receptors, with the goal of combining the potency of biologics with the convenience of oral administration. Protagonist’s approach aims to address unmet medical needs in areas where injectable therapies have been the standard of care.

Among its lead programs is PTG-100, an oral α4β7 integrin antagonist intended to block leukocyte migration to the gut in ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease.