William Scully Buys 50,000 Shares of Prothena (NASDAQ:PRTA) Stock

Prothena Corporation plc (NASDAQ:PRTA) major shareholder William Scully acquired 50,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 4th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $9.31 per share, with a total value of $465,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 936,000 shares in the company, valued at $8,714,160. This trade represents a 5.64% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Large shareholders that own 10% or more of a company’s shares are required to disclose their transactions with the SEC.

Prothena Trading Down 5.0%

Prothena stock opened at $8.79 on Friday. Prothena Corporation plc has a twelve month low of $4.95 and a twelve month high of $11.80. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $10.12 and a two-hundred day moving average of $9.71. The stock has a market capitalization of $460.16 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -3.12, a PEG ratio of 1.41 and a beta of -0.25.

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Prothena

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of PRTA. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC increased its stake in Prothena by 571.0% in the 2nd quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 12,709 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $77,000 after purchasing an additional 10,815 shares in the last quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Prothena in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $100,000. PDT Partners LLC purchased a new position in Prothena in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $108,000. Voleon Capital Management LP purchased a new position in Prothena in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $113,000. Finally, DRW Securities LLC purchased a new position in Prothena in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $114,000. 97.08% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on PRTA shares. Citizens Jmp increased their price target on Prothena from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a report on Friday, May 8th. Citigroup reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Prothena in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Wall Street Zen raised Prothena from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their target price on Prothena from $11.00 to $12.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 20th. Finally, Weiss Ratings downgraded Prothena from a “sell (d-)” rating to a “sell (e+)” rating in a research note on Tuesday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have given a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Prothena currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $23.75.

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.