William Scully Purchases 20,000 Shares of Prothena (NASDAQ:PRTA) Stock

Prothena Corporation plc (NASDAQ:PRTA) major shareholder William Scully acquired 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 16th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $7.90 per share, for a total transaction of $158,000.00. Following the acquisition, the insider owned 756,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,972,400. The trade was a 2.72% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Major shareholders that own more than 10% of a company’s stock are required to disclose their transactions with the SEC.

Prothena Stock Performance

Prothena stock opened at $8.93 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $467.49 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -3.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.43 and a beta of -0.25. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $9.83 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $9.57. Prothena Corporation plc has a 1-year low of $5.64 and a 1-year high of $11.80.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently commented on PRTA. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price objective on Prothena from $11.00 to $12.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 20th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $19.00 target price on Prothena in a research report on Friday, March 13th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Prothena from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, June 6th. Citigroup reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Prothena in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Finally, Weiss Ratings cut Prothena from a “sell (d-)” rating to a “sell (e+)” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have given a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $23.75.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Prothena

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. ADAR1 Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Prothena by 8.5% in the 1st quarter. ADAR1 Capital Management LLC now owns 1,581,443 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $15,372,000 after buying an additional 123,679 shares during the last quarter. Rubric Capital Management LP grew its holdings in shares of Prothena by 36.0% in the first quarter. Rubric Capital Management LP now owns 5,000,000 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $48,600,000 after acquiring an additional 1,322,669 shares in the last quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP increased its position in shares of Prothena by 39.3% during the first quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 144,299 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $1,403,000 after acquiring an additional 40,681 shares during the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC increased its position in shares of Prothena by 39.5% during the first quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 607,515 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $5,905,000 after acquiring an additional 172,000 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sei Investments Co. bought a new stake in Prothena during the first quarter worth $168,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.08% of the company’s stock.

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.