Abel Hall LLC Acquires New Shares in Protagonist Therapeutics, Inc. $PTGX

Abel Hall LLC bought a new stake in Protagonist Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:PTGX) during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund bought 4,258 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $449,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its stake in shares of Protagonist Therapeutics by 140.7% in the 4th quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 2,649,981 shares of the company’s stock valued at $231,355,000 after acquiring an additional 1,549,160 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in Protagonist Therapeutics by 66.2% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 3,171,423 shares of the company’s stock valued at $276,992,000 after purchasing an additional 1,262,977 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Protagonist Therapeutics by 27.2% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,413,690 shares of the company’s stock worth $472,832,000 after purchasing an additional 1,156,461 shares during the period. Marshall Wace LLP bought a new position in shares of Protagonist Therapeutics during the third quarter worth $72,114,000. Finally, Commodore Capital LP acquired a new position in shares of Protagonist Therapeutics in the 2nd quarter valued at $59,415,000. Institutional investors own 98.63% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently commented on PTGX shares. Wall Street Zen downgraded Protagonist Therapeutics from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, June 27th. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $121.00 target price on shares of Protagonist Therapeutics in a research note on Wednesday, March 18th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Protagonist Therapeutics in a research note on Friday, May 15th. Citizens Jmp boosted their target price on Protagonist Therapeutics from $120.00 to $137.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Finally, Barclays upped their price target on Protagonist Therapeutics from $113.00 to $119.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 19th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have given a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $116.93.

Insider Buying and Selling at Protagonist Therapeutics

In other news, CFO Asif Ali sold 1,750 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $105.47, for a total value of $184,572.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 59,003 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,223,046.41. This represents a 2.88% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, CEO Dinesh V. Ph D. Patel sold 75,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $100.12, for a total transaction of $7,509,000.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 523,478 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $52,410,617.36. The trade was a 12.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 162,880 shares of company stock valued at $16,539,792. Insiders own 5.19% of the company’s stock.

Protagonist Therapeutics Stock Down 0.1%

Shares of NASDAQ PTGX opened at $131.50 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $107.09 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $96.70. Protagonist Therapeutics, Inc. has a twelve month low of $49.38 and a twelve month high of $132.79. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.46 billion, a P/E ratio of -72.65 and a beta of 1.79.

Protagonist Therapeutics (NASDAQ:PTGX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 5th. The company reported $0.05 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.50) by $0.55. The company had revenue of $56.37 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.70 million. Protagonist Therapeutics had a negative return on equity of 17.76% and a negative net margin of 154.88%. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Protagonist Therapeutics, Inc. will post 2.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Protagonist Therapeutics Company 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.