Prothena (NASDAQ:PRTA) Trading Up 5.2% – Here’s Why

Prothena Corporation plc (NASDAQ:PRTA)’s stock price traded up 5.2% during trading on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $9.62 and last traded at $9.63. Approximately 63,210 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 88% from the average session volume of 509,417 shares. The stock had previously closed at $9.15.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on PRTA shares. Citizens Jmp lifted their price target on shares of 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 downgraded Prothena from a “sell (d-)” rating to a “sell (e+)” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 2nd. Wall Street Zen raised Prothena from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, June 6th. Citigroup reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Prothena in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus set a $19.00 price target on Prothena in a report on Friday, March 13th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have issued a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Prothena has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $23.75.

Prothena Trading Up 5.8%

The stock has a market capitalization of $506.75 million, a P/E ratio of -3.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.43 and a beta of -0.25. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $9.80 and a 200 day simple moving average of $9.56.

Prothena (NASDAQ:PRTA) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The biotechnology company reported $0.60 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.31) by $0.91. Prothena had a negative return on equity of 43.44% and a negative net margin of 260.92%.The company had revenue of $51.08 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $0.81 million. As a group, research analysts forecast that Prothena Corporation plc will post 0.18 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, major shareholder William P. Scully acquired 125,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 11th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $8.17 per share, for a total transaction of $1,021,250.00. Following the purchase, the insider owned 1,061,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,668,370. The trade was a 13.35% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In the last quarter, insiders acquired 345,000 shares of company stock worth $3,097,250. 10.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Prothena

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Rubric Capital Management LP lifted its position 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 purchasing an additional 1,322,669 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its position in Prothena by 151.7% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,267,802 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $21,658,000 after purchasing an additional 1,366,764 shares in the last quarter. ADAR1 Capital Management LLC increased 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 valued at $15,372,000 after buying an additional 123,679 shares during the last quarter. Palo Alto Investors LP increased its stake in Prothena by 3.9% in the 3rd quarter. Palo Alto Investors LP now owns 1,324,028 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $12,923,000 after buying an additional 49,275 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Prothena by 4.3% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,063,069 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $10,154,000 after buying an additional 43,586 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.08% of the company’s stock.

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.