Prothena Corporation plc (NASDAQ:PRTA) Given Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Shares of Prothena Corporation plc (NASDAQ:PRTA) have earned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the eight brokerages that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, one has issued a hold recommendation, five have given a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price objective among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $23.75.

PRTA has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Citigroup restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Prothena in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Citizens Jmp increased their price objective on Prothena from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, May 8th. UBS Group reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Prothena in a report on Friday, July 24th. HC Wainwright restated a “buy” rating and set a $30.00 target price on shares of Prothena in a research report on Friday, July 24th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut shares of Prothena from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, July 25th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, major shareholder William P. Scully bought 20,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 16th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $7.90 per share, with a total value of $158,000.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the insider owned 756,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,972,400. This represents a 2.72% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, General Counsel Michael John Isaacs sold 8,386 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $8.47, for a total value of $71,029.42. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel owned 35,745 shares in the company, valued at approximately $302,760.15. This represents a 19.00% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last 90 days, insiders have purchased 345,000 shares of company stock valued at $3,097,250. Corporate insiders own 10.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Prothena

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Rubric Capital Management LP grew its holdings in Prothena by 36.0% in the 1st quarter. Rubric Capital Management LP now owns 5,000,000 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $48,600,000 after buying an additional 1,322,669 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its stake in Prothena by 151.7% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,267,802 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $21,658,000 after purchasing an additional 1,366,764 shares in the last quarter. ADAR1 Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Prothena by 8.5% in the first quarter. ADAR1 Capital Management LLC now owns 1,581,443 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $15,372,000 after acquiring an additional 123,679 shares in the last quarter. Palo Alto Investors LP grew its stake in Prothena by 3.9% in the third quarter. Palo Alto Investors LP now owns 1,324,028 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $12,923,000 after purchasing an additional 49,275 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Prothena by 4.3% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,063,069 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $10,154,000 after purchasing an additional 43,586 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.08% of the company’s stock.

Prothena Stock Performance

Shares of Prothena stock opened at $8.49 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $444.45 million, a P/E ratio of -3.01, a PEG ratio of 1.36 and a beta of -0.30. Prothena has a one year low of $7.28 and a one year high of $11.80. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $8.96 and a two-hundred day moving average of $9.41.

Prothena (NASDAQ:PRTA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 7th. The biotechnology company reported $0.60 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.31) by $0.91. The company had revenue of $51.08 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $0.81 million. Prothena had a negative return on equity of 43.44% and a negative net margin of 260.92%. As a group, equities analysts predict that Prothena will post 0.18 earnings per share for the current 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.