Prothena Corporation plc (NASDAQ:PRTA) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Shares of Prothena Corporation plc (NASDAQ:PRTA) have received a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the eight analysts that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, four have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $23.75.

A number of research analysts have weighed in on PRTA shares. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price objective on shares of Prothena from $11.00 to $12.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 20th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $19.00 target price on shares of Prothena in a research report on Friday, March 13th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Prothena from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Prothena from a “sell (d-)” rating to a “sell (e+)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 2nd. Finally, Citigroup reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Prothena in a research note on Friday, May 8th.

Insider Buying and Selling at Prothena

In related news, major shareholder William P. Scully bought 100,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 22nd. The shares were bought at an average price of $9.81 per share, with a total value of $981,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 836,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,201,160. This represents a 13.59% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders purchased a total of 200,000 shares of company stock valued at $1,918,000 in the last 90 days. 10.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Prothena

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Rubric Capital Management LP lifted its stake in Prothena by 138.7% during the 4th quarter. Rubric Capital Management LP now owns 3,677,331 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $35,119,000 after acquiring an additional 2,136,958 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of Prothena by 151.7% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,267,802 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $21,658,000 after acquiring an additional 1,366,764 shares in the last quarter. Rangeley Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Prothena in the second quarter valued at about $4,342,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership purchased a new stake in shares of Prothena in the third quarter valued at about $6,386,000. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in shares of Prothena by 479.6% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 735,765 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $7,181,000 after purchasing an additional 608,814 shares in the last quarter. 97.08% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Prothena Stock Down 1.1%

Shares of NASDAQ:PRTA opened at $8.47 on Wednesday. Prothena has a twelve month low of $4.95 and a twelve month high of $11.80. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $10.08 and its 200-day moving average is $9.68. The firm has a market capitalization of $443.40 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -3.00, a PEG ratio of 1.37 and a beta of -0.25.

Prothena (NASDAQ:PRTA) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The biotechnology company reported $0.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.31) by $0.91. The business had revenue of $51.08 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $0.81 million. Prothena had a negative net margin of 260.92% and a negative return on equity of 43.44%. Equities research analysts anticipate that Prothena will post 0.18 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Prothena Company Profile

Prothena Corporation plc is a clinical-stage biotechnology company dedicated to the discovery and development of novel therapies for neurodegenerative and rare diseases driven by misfolded proteins. The company’s research focuses on immunotherapies and small molecules designed to target and clear disease-causing protein aggregates. Prothena leverages proprietary protein engineering and antibody discovery platforms to advance candidates through preclinical and clinical stages.

The company’s most advanced program is an antibody targeting aggregated alpha-synuclein for the potential treatment of Parkinson’s disease, currently in mid-stage clinical trials.