Prothena (NASDAQ:PRTA) Shares Cross Above 50-Day Moving Average – Time to Sell?

Prothena Corporation plc (NASDAQ:PRTA) crossed above its 50-day moving average during trading on Monday. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $8.64 and traded as high as $8.85. Prothena shares last traded at $8.77, with a volume of 741,117 shares trading hands.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on PRTA shares. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Prothena from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, July 25th. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Prothena from a “sell (d-)” rating to a “sell (e+)” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 29th. UBS Group reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Prothena in a report on Friday, July 24th. Finally, HC Wainwright reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $30.00 price target on shares of Prothena in a report on Friday, July 24th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have given a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Prothena has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $20.00.

Prothena Trading Up 10.0%

The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $8.64 and its 200 day moving average price is $9.19. The firm has a market capitalization of $459.11 million, a PE ratio of -18.27, a PEG ratio of 2.96 and a beta of -0.20.

Prothena (NASDAQ:PRTA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 5th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.32) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.23) by ($0.09). The firm had revenue of $0.62 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.58 million. Prothena had a negative net margin of 80.68% and a negative return on equity of 16.45%. As a group, research analysts expect that Prothena Corporation plc will post 0.08 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Prothena

In related news, major shareholder William P. Scully purchased 50,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 23rd. The stock was bought at an average price of $8.07 per share, for a total transaction of $403,500.00. Following the purchase, the insider owned 1,187,000 shares in the company, valued at $9,579,090. The trade was a 4.40% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders bought a total of 1,017,500 shares of company stock valued at $8,654,850 over the last ninety days. 10.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Prothena

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of PRTA. Rubric Capital Management LP grew its position in shares of Prothena by 36.0% in 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 purchasing an additional 1,322,669 shares during the last quarter. ADAR1 Capital Management LLC raised its stake 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 valued at $15,372,000 after purchasing an additional 123,679 shares in the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC raised its stake in shares of Prothena by 39.5% in the 1st quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 607,515 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $5,905,000 after buying an additional 172,000 shares in the last quarter. Engineers Gate Manager LP acquired a new position in Prothena in the second quarter worth about $404,000. Finally, Headlands Technologies LLC bought a new position in shares of Prothena during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $148,000. 97.08% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Prothena Company Profile

Prothena Corporation plc (NASDAQ: PRTA) is a clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on discovering and developing novel medicines for serious neurodegenerative and rare peripheral diseases. Its research is centered on disease-causing proteins, including amyloid-beta, alpha-synuclein and transthyretin, with the goal of creating antibody-based therapies that address underlying disease mechanisms.

The company’s product pipeline has included birtamimab, an investigational antibody being developed for the treatment of AL amyloidosis, and prasinezumab, an investigational alpha-synuclein antibody being developed in collaboration with Roche for certain forms of Parkinson’s disease.