Maryland State Retirement & Pension System Sells 2,772 Shares of Protagonist Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:PTGX)

Maryland State Retirement & Pension System lessened its stake in Protagonist Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:PTGX) by 13.7% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 17,398 shares of the company’s stock after selling 2,772 shares during the quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System’s holdings in Protagonist Therapeutics were worth $841,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Protagonist Therapeutics by 1.4% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,277,218 shares of the company’s stock valued at $206,846,000 after acquiring an additional 57,181 shares in the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Protagonist Therapeutics by 38.2% during the first quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 1,992 shares of the company’s stock valued at $96,000 after purchasing an additional 551 shares in the last quarter. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Protagonist Therapeutics during the first quarter valued at $8,128,000. US Bancorp DE boosted its position in shares of Protagonist Therapeutics by 71.5% during the first quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 3,654 shares of the company’s stock valued at $177,000 after buying an additional 1,524 shares during the last quarter. Finally, XTX Topco Ltd increased its holdings in Protagonist Therapeutics by 111.4% in the 1st quarter. XTX Topco Ltd now owns 14,257 shares of the company’s stock worth $689,000 after buying an additional 7,513 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 98.63% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Arturo Md Molina sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.03, for a total value of $570,300.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 83,892 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,784,360.76. This represents a 10.65% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Dinesh V. Ph D. Patel sold 22,065 shares of Protagonist Therapeutics stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.05, for a total transaction of $1,214,678.25. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 548,538 shares in the company, valued at $30,197,016.90. This represents a 3.87% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 72,859 shares of company stock valued at $4,020,877. 4.90% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Protagonist Therapeutics Price Performance

Shares of Protagonist Therapeutics stock opened at $54.53 on Wednesday. Protagonist Therapeutics, Inc. has a 1-year low of $33.31 and a 1-year high of $60.60. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $53.95 and its 200-day simple moving average is $47.59. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.39 billion, a PE ratio of 77.90 and a beta of 2.33.

Protagonist Therapeutics (NASDAQ:PTGX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The company reported ($0.55) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.53) by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $5.55 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.32 million. Protagonist Therapeutics had a net margin of 24.88% and a return on equity of 8.12%. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Protagonist Therapeutics, Inc. will post 2.43 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

PTGX has been the topic of several research analyst reports. HC Wainwright restated a “buy” rating and set a $80.00 target price on shares of Protagonist Therapeutics in a research note on Tuesday, June 3rd. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Protagonist Therapeutics from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, June 8th. JMP Securities lifted their target price on shares of Protagonist Therapeutics from $67.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. Finally, Citigroup reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Protagonist Therapeutics in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $67.20.

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.