Prothena Corporation plc (NASDAQ:PRTA) Receives Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Prothena Corporation plc (NASDAQ:PRTA) has been given an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the eight ratings firms that are covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $23.75.

PRTA has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Prothena from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price objective on Prothena from $11.00 to $12.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 20th. Citizens Jmp boosted their price objective on Prothena from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $19.00 target price on Prothena in a research report on Friday, March 13th. Finally, Weiss Ratings cut Prothena from a “sell (d-)” rating to a “sell (e+)” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 2nd.

Insider Activity

In related news, major shareholder William P. Scully acquired 100,000 shares of Prothena stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 22nd. The stock was bought at an average price of $9.81 per share, with a total value of $981,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 836,000 shares in the company, valued at $8,201,160. This represents a 13.59% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In the last quarter, insiders purchased 200,000 shares of company stock worth $1,918,000. 10.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of PRTA. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in Prothena by 479.6% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 735,765 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $7,181,000 after purchasing an additional 608,814 shares in the last quarter. Focused Wealth Management Inc boosted its position in shares of Prothena by 88.1% during the 4th quarter. Focused Wealth Management Inc now owns 107,479 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $1,026,000 after purchasing an additional 50,350 shares in the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. bought a new position in shares of Prothena during the 1st quarter worth about $168,000. Quantinno Capital Management LP grew its stake in shares of Prothena by 39.3% in the 1st quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 144,299 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $1,403,000 after buying an additional 40,681 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its stake in shares of Prothena by 2.7% in the 1st quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 136,322 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $1,325,000 after buying an additional 3,622 shares during the period. 97.08% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Prothena Stock Performance

Prothena stock opened at $8.47 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $443.40 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -3.00, a PEG ratio of 1.37 and a beta of -0.25. Prothena has a 52-week low of $4.95 and a 52-week high of $11.80. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $10.08 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $9.68.

Prothena (NASDAQ:PRTA) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 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 analysts’ expectations of $0.81 million. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Prothena will post 0.18 EPS for the current fiscal 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.