Stock Traders Buy Large Volume of Protara Therapeutics Call Options (NASDAQ:TARA)

Protara Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:TARA) was the recipient of some unusual options trading activity on Wednesday. Traders purchased 2,120 call options on the company. This represents an increase of 546% compared to the average daily volume of 328 call options.

Insider Transactions at Protara Therapeutics

In other Protara Therapeutics news, insider Jacqueline Zummo sold 22,598 shares of Protara Therapeutics stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $5.26, for a total value of $118,865.48. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 95,961 shares in the company, valued at $504,754.86. The trade was a 19.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 12.50% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Protara Therapeutics

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Virtu Financial LLC bought a new stake in shares of Protara Therapeutics during the fourth quarter worth about $368,000. ADAR1 Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Protara Therapeutics by 3,127.4% during the fourth quarter. ADAR1 Capital Management LLC now owns 1,136,799 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,059,000 after purchasing an additional 1,101,576 shares during the last quarter. XTX Topco Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Protara Therapeutics during the fourth quarter worth about $615,000. Sphera Funds Management LTD. bought a new stake in shares of Protara Therapeutics during the fourth quarter worth about $3,464,000. Finally, Quadrature Capital Ltd grew its holdings in shares of Protara Therapeutics by 39.4% during the fourth quarter. Quadrature Capital Ltd now owns 24,184 shares of the company’s stock worth $129,000 after purchasing an additional 6,838 shares during the last quarter. 38.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Protara Therapeutics Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ TARA traded up $0.06 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $5.20. The company had a trading volume of 101,454 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,076,629. Protara Therapeutics has a one year low of $2.77 and a one year high of $7.82. The firm has a market cap of $281.45 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -3.94 and a beta of 1.50. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $5.95 and its 200 day simple moving average is $5.64.

Protara Therapeutics (NASDAQ:TARA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, March 10th. The company reported ($0.37) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.34) by ($0.03). On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Protara Therapeutics will post -3.32 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. TD Cowen reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Protara Therapeutics in a research report on Tuesday, March 10th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Protara Therapeutics in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. HC Wainwright restated a “buy” rating and issued a $23.00 target price on shares of Protara Therapeutics in a research note on Tuesday, February 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. started coverage on shares of Protara Therapeutics in a research note on Wednesday, March 4th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $27.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Piper Sandler started coverage on shares of Protara Therapeutics in a research note on Wednesday, January 7th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $24.00 target price on the stock. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $21.40.

Protara Therapeutics Company Profile

Protara Therapeutics, Inc is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on developing novel immunotherapies for virus-driven cancers. The company’s primary areas of research include human papillomavirus (HPV)–associated malignancies, where it seeks to harness and enhance the body’s immune response to target tumor cells. Protara’s therapeutic strategy combines antigen-specific vaccination approaches with modulators of T-cell activation to improve clinical outcomes in patients with HPV-mediated disease.

Protara’s lead immunotherapy candidate is PTX-35, an investigational monoclonal antibody designed to agonize OX40, a co-stimulatory receptor on T cells.