Prothena (NASDAQ:PRTA) Share Price Crosses Below Two Hundred Day Moving Average – Should You Sell?

Shares of Prothena Corporation plc (NASDAQ:PRTA) passed below its 200-day moving average during trading on Tuesday . The stock has a 200-day moving average of $9.37 and traded as low as $8.58. Prothena shares last traded at $8.71, with a volume of 248,559 shares.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have commented on PRTA. Citizens Jmp raised 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. Weiss Ratings lowered Prothena from a “sell (d-)” rating to a “sell (e+)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 11th. HC Wainwright reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $30.00 target price on shares of Prothena in a report on Friday, July 24th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Prothena from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, July 25th. Finally, Citigroup restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Prothena in a research note on Friday, May 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $23.75.

Prothena Stock Performance

The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $8.94 and a 200-day simple moving average of $9.37. The firm has a market cap of $468.01 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -10.64, a P/E/G ratio of 3.07 and a beta of -0.30.

Prothena (NASDAQ:PRTA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 6th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.32) EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.39) by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $1.01 million during 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%. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Prothena Corporation plc will post 0.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Prothena

In other Prothena news, General Counsel Michael John Isaacs sold 8,386 shares of Prothena stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $8.47, for a total transaction of $71,029.42. Following the transaction, the general counsel directly owned 35,745 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $302,760.15. The trade was a 19.00% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder William P. Scully bought 20,000 shares of Prothena stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 16th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $7.90 per share, with a total value of $158,000.00. Following the purchase, the insider owned 756,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,972,400. This represents a 2.72% increase in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. In the last three months, insiders purchased 345,000 shares of company stock valued at $3,097,250. 10.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Headlands Technologies LLC bought a new position in shares of Prothena in the second quarter valued at approximately $148,000. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio purchased a new position in shares of Prothena during the 2nd quarter valued at $413,000. Great Lakes Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Prothena during the second quarter valued at about $281,000. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Prothena by 2.5% during the 2nd quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 90,795 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $889,000 after buying an additional 2,251 shares in the last quarter. Finally, ADAR1 Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Prothena by 8.5% in the first 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 period. 97.08% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.