Insider Buying: Prothena Co. plc (NASDAQ:PRTA) Major Shareholder Purchases 32,000 Shares of Stock

Prothena Co. plc (NASDAQ:PRTA) major shareholder William P. Scully acquired 32,000 shares of Prothena stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 31st. The shares were purchased at an average price of $13.01 per share, for a total transaction of $416,320.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the insider now directly owns 650,193 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,459,010.93. The trade was a 5.18 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Large shareholders that own at least 10% of a company’s shares are required to disclose their transactions with the SEC.

Prothena Stock Performance

NASDAQ:PRTA opened at $8.50 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $457.53 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -3.70 and a beta of 0.07. Prothena Co. plc has a 1 year low of $8.25 and a 1 year high of $25.42. The business has a fifty day moving average of $11.85 and a 200-day moving average of $13.90.

Prothena (NASDAQ:PRTA) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The biotechnology company reported ($1.08) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.02) by ($0.06). Prothena had a negative net margin of 90.50% and a negative return on equity of 22.67%. The company had revenue of $2.12 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.53 million. On average, equities research analysts predict that Prothena Co. plc will post -4.04 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on PRTA. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price target on shares of Prothena from $24.00 to $20.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 21st. HC Wainwright reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $48.00 target price on shares of Prothena in a report on Friday, February 21st. StockNews.com raised Prothena from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, February 24th. Oppenheimer upped their price objective on Prothena from $58.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Chardan Capital reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $40.00 target price on shares of Prothena in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $55.00.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Prothena

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in shares of Prothena by 22.8% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 5,130,876 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $71,063,000 after purchasing an additional 952,088 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Prothena by 11.5% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,403,838 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $19,443,000 after acquiring an additional 144,737 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in Prothena by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 864,833 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $11,980,000 after acquiring an additional 10,783 shares in the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. lifted its holdings in Prothena by 84.3% in the 4th quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 746,177 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $10,335,000 after acquiring an additional 341,274 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Boxer Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Prothena during the 4th quarter valued at about $9,556,000. Institutional investors own 97.08% of the company’s stock.

Prothena Company Profile

Prothena Corporation plc, a late-stage clinical biotechnology company, focuses on discovery and development of novel therapies to treat diseases caused by protein dysregulation in the United States. The company is involved in developing birtamimab, an investigational humanized antibody that is in Phase III clinical trial for the treatment of AL amyloidosis; Prasinezumab, a humanized monoclonal antibody, for the treatment of Parkinson’s disease and other related synucleinopathies which is in Phase IIb clinical trial; NNC6019 that is in Phase lI clinical trial for the treatment of ATTR amyloidosis; and BMS-986446 and PRX012, which is in Phase I clinical trial for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease.