Prothena Co. plc (NASDAQ:PRTA) Receives Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Shares of Prothena Co. plc (NASDAQ:PRTA) have received an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the eight analysts that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and six have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $55.00.

PRTA has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating on shares of Prothena in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Oppenheimer upped their price target on Prothena from $58.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. StockNews.com raised shares of Prothena from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, February 24th. HC Wainwright restated a “buy” rating and set a $48.00 price objective on shares of Prothena in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada cut their price target on shares of Prothena from $24.00 to $20.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 21st.

Prothena Stock Down 4.9 %

Shares of Prothena stock opened at $8.08 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $434.92 million, a PE ratio of -3.51 and a beta of 0.07. The business has a 50 day moving average of $11.72 and a 200 day moving average of $13.82. Prothena has a 52 week low of $8.00 and a 52 week high of $25.42.

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Prothena

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of PRTA. Virtus ETF Advisers LLC boosted its position in Prothena by 19.3% in the fourth quarter. Virtus ETF Advisers LLC now owns 5,148 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $71,000 after purchasing an additional 833 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Prothena by 4,626.0% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 6,002 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $74,000 after buying an additional 5,875 shares during the last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC grew its position in Prothena by 196.5% during the fourth quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC now owns 7,330 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $102,000 after buying an additional 4,858 shares during the period. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in Prothena during the first quarter valued at approximately $126,000. Finally, Teacher Retirement System of Texas bought a new position in Prothena in the fourth quarter worth approximately $145,000. 97.08% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About Prothena

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.