Prothena Corporation plc (NASDAQ:PRTA) Receives $21.67 Consensus Target Price from Analysts

Prothena Corporation plc (NASDAQ:PRTA) has earned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the eleven ratings firms that are covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, four have given a hold recommendation, four have given a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $21.6667.

A number of brokerages have recently commented on PRTA. Citigroup reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating on shares of Prothena in a report on Friday, March 13th. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price target on Prothena from $11.00 to $12.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, February 20th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $19.00 price target on Prothena in a research report on Friday, March 13th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (e+)” rating on shares of Prothena in a research note on Monday, December 29th.

Prothena Trading Up 5.1%

Shares of PRTA opened at $9.72 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $523.26 million, a PE ratio of -2.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.62 and a beta of -0.24. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $9.17 and its 200-day simple moving average is $9.60. Prothena has a 12-month low of $4.32 and a 12-month high of $12.70.

Prothena (NASDAQ:PRTA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 19th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.44) EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.45) by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $0.02 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $0.67 million. Prothena had a negative net margin of 2,520.57% and a negative return on equity of 65.89%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Prothena will post -4.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Prothena

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of PRTA. Squarepoint Ops LLC acquired a new position in Prothena in the 2nd quarter valued at $1,270,000. Birchview Capital LP lifted its stake in shares of Prothena by 35.5% in the 2nd quarter. Birchview Capital LP now owns 451,019 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $2,738,000 after acquiring an additional 118,045 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. purchased a new stake in shares of Prothena in the third quarter valued at about $876,000. Federated Hermes Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Prothena by 116.2% in the second quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 1,181,087 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $7,169,000 after acquiring an additional 634,832 shares in the last quarter. Finally, PNC Financial Services Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Prothena by 3,594.3% during the second quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 18,028 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $109,000 after acquiring an additional 17,540 shares during the period. 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.