Prothena (NASDAQ:PRTA) Major Shareholder William Scully Purchases 125,000 Shares of Stock

Prothena Corporation plc (NASDAQ:PRTA) major shareholder William Scully acquired 125,000 shares of Prothena stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 7th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $8.40 per share, with a total value of $1,050,000.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the insider owned 439,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,687,600. This represents a 39.81% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Major shareholders that own 10% or more of a company’s shares are required to disclose their transactions with the SEC.

Prothena Price Performance

NASDAQ:PRTA opened at $8.84 on Friday. Prothena Corporation plc has a fifty-two week low of $7.73 and a fifty-two week high of $11.80. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $8.90 and its two-hundred day moving average is $9.33. The stock has a market cap of $462.80 million, a PE ratio of -10.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.04 and a beta of -0.29.

Prothena (NASDAQ:PRTA) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.32) earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.39) by $0.07. The company had revenue of $1.01 million for 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%. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Prothena Corporation plc will post 0.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PRTA has been the subject of a number of research reports. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Prothena from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, July 25th. UBS Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Prothena in a research note on Friday, July 24th. HC Wainwright reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $30.00 price objective on shares of Prothena in a report on Friday, July 24th. Finally, Weiss Ratings cut Prothena from a “sell (d-)” rating to a “sell (e+)” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 24th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Prothena presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $24.57.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Rubric Capital Management LP lifted its position in Prothena by 36.0% during the 1st quarter. Rubric Capital Management LP now owns 5,000,000 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $48,600,000 after acquiring an additional 1,322,669 shares during the last quarter. ADAR1 Capital Management LLC increased 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 worth $15,372,000 after purchasing an additional 123,679 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of Prothena by 1.0% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 782,603 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $7,606,000 after purchasing an additional 7,396 shares during the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC lifted its position in shares of Prothena by 39.5% during the 1st quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 607,515 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $5,905,000 after purchasing an additional 172,000 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Penbrook Management LLC bought a new stake in Prothena during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $2,641,000. Institutional investors own 97.08% of the company’s stock.

Prothena Company Profile

Prothena Corporation plc is a clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on discovering and developing therapies for diseases caused by protein misfolding or abnormal protein accumulation. Its research programs target neurological and systemic disorders, including Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, and transthyretin amyloidosis.

The company’s pipeline has included PRX012, an investigational next-generation antibody targeting amyloid beta for Alzheimer’s disease; prasinezumab, an anti-alpha-synuclein antibody being developed for Parkinson’s disease through a collaboration with Roche; and birtamimab, an investigational treatment designed to target misfolded light chains associated with AL amyloidosis.