Prothena Corporation plc (NASDAQ:PRTA) Stock Has Average Target Price of $24.57

Prothena Corporation plc (NASDAQ:PRTA) has been given an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the eight brokerages that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, one has assigned a hold recommendation, five have assigned a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 1 year target price among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $24.57.

Several research analysts have issued reports on the company. Weiss Ratings raised Prothena from a “sell (e+)” rating to a “sell (d-)” rating in a report on Wednesday. Wall Street Zen lowered Prothena from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, July 25th. UBS Group reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Prothena in a research note on Friday, July 24th. Finally, HC Wainwright reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $30.00 target price on shares of Prothena in a report on Friday, July 24th.

Prothena Trading Up 1.6%

Shares of PRTA opened at $8.50 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $444.98 million, a PE ratio of -10.12, a PEG ratio of 2.95 and a beta of -0.29. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $8.89 and a 200-day simple moving average of $9.31. Prothena has a 1 year low of $7.73 and a 1 year high of $11.80.

Prothena (NASDAQ:PRTA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 6th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.32) earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.39) by $0.07. Prothena had a negative net margin of 80.68% and a negative return on equity of 16.45%. The firm had revenue of $1.01 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $0.42 million. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Prothena will post 0.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Prothena

In other Prothena news, major shareholder William P. Scully bought 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 14th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $8.46 per share, with a total value of $84,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 1,037,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,773,020. This trade represents a 0.97% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders have acquired a total of 867,500 shares of company stock valued at $7,432,350 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 10.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Prothena

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Prothena by 2.5% in the 2nd quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 90,795 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $889,000 after buying an additional 2,251 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its stake in 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 worth $1,325,000 after purchasing an additional 3,622 shares during the period. Versant Capital Management Inc grew its stake in Prothena by 179.1% during the third quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 5,704 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $48,000 after acquiring an additional 3,660 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in shares of Prothena by 1.0% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 782,603 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $7,606,000 after purchasing an additional 7,396 shares during the period. Finally, CHICAGO TRUST Co NA bought a new stake in shares of Prothena during the 1st quarter valued at about $146,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.08% of the company’s stock.

Prothena Company Profile

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.