Prothena (NASDAQ:PRTA) Major Shareholder William Scully Buys 90,000 Shares of Company Stock

Prothena Corporation plc (NASDAQ:PRTA) major shareholder William Scully bought 90,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 8th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $8.57 per share, with a total value of $771,300.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 529,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,533,530. The trade was a 20.50% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Major shareholders that own 10% or more of a company’s stock are required to disclose their transactions with the SEC.

Prothena Stock Up 2.7%

Shares of PRTA opened at $8.84 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $462.80 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -10.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.04 and a beta of -0.29. Prothena Corporation plc has a twelve month low of $7.73 and a twelve month high of $11.80. The company has a 50 day moving average of $8.90 and a two-hundred day moving average of $9.33.

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently weighed in on PRTA. Wall Street Zen downgraded Prothena from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, July 25th. HC Wainwright reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $30.00 price target on shares of Prothena in a research note on Friday, July 24th. UBS Group reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Prothena in a report on Friday, July 24th. Finally, Weiss Ratings lowered Prothena from a “sell (d-)” rating to a “sell (e+)” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 24th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have issued a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Prothena currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $24.57.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Prothena

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Rubric Capital Management LP grew its holdings in shares of Prothena by 36.0% during the first quarter. Rubric Capital Management LP now owns 5,000,000 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $48,600,000 after buying an additional 1,322,669 shares during the last quarter. ADAR1 Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Prothena by 8.5% in the 1st quarter. ADAR1 Capital Management LLC now owns 1,581,443 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $15,372,000 after acquiring an additional 123,679 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in Prothena by 1.0% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 782,603 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $7,606,000 after acquiring an additional 7,396 shares during the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC lifted its position in Prothena by 39.5% during the 1st quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 607,515 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $5,905,000 after acquiring an additional 172,000 shares during the period. Finally, Penbrook Management LLC acquired a new stake in Prothena during the 1st quarter worth about $2,641,000. 97.08% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.