Insider Buying: Prothena (NASDAQ:PRTA) Major Shareholder Purchases $857,000.00 in Stock

Prothena Corporation plc (NASDAQ:PRTA) major shareholder William Scully purchased 100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 2nd. The stock was bought at an average cost of $8.57 per share, for a total transaction of $857,000.00. Following the purchase, the insider owned 314,000 shares in the company, valued at $2,690,980. This represents a 46.73% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Major shareholders that own more than 10% of a company’s stock are required to disclose their transactions with the SEC.

Prothena Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:PRTA opened at $8.61 on Friday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $8.88 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $9.34. Prothena Corporation plc has a fifty-two week low of $7.73 and a fifty-two week high of $11.80. The stock has a market capitalization of $450.73 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -10.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.99 and a beta of -0.29.

Prothena (NASDAQ:PRTA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 6th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.32) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.39) by $0.07. Prothena had a negative return on equity of 16.45% and a negative net margin of 80.68%.The company had revenue of $1.01 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $0.42 million. Research analysts expect that Prothena Corporation plc will post 0.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Prothena

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Versant Capital Management Inc increased its stake in shares of Prothena by 179.1% in the third quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 5,704 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $48,000 after buying an additional 3,660 shares in the last quarter. CHICAGO TRUST Co NA acquired a new position in Prothena during the 1st quarter worth about $146,000. Headlands Technologies LLC acquired a new position in Prothena during the 2nd quarter worth about $148,000. Sei Investments Co. bought a new stake in Prothena during the 1st quarter worth about $168,000. Finally, Great Lakes Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Prothena during the 2nd quarter worth about $281,000. Institutional investors own 97.08% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

PRTA has been the subject of several analyst reports. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Prothena from a “sell (d-)” rating to a “sell (e+)” rating in a report on Thursday, September 24th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Prothena from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, July 25th. HC Wainwright reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $30.00 price objective on shares of Prothena in a report on Friday, July 24th. Finally, UBS Group reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Prothena in a research note on Friday, July 24th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have issued a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $24.57.

About Prothena

Prothena Corporation plc is a clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on discovering and developing therapies for diseases caused by protein misfolding or abnormal protein accumulation. Its research programs target neurological and systemic disorders, including Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, and transthyretin amyloidosis.

The company’s pipeline has included PRX012, an investigational next-generation antibody targeting amyloid beta for Alzheimer’s disease; prasinezumab, an anti-alpha-synuclein antibody being developed for Parkinson’s disease through a collaboration with Roche; and birtamimab, an investigational treatment designed to target misfolded light chains associated with AL amyloidosis.