Prothena Corporation plc (NASDAQ:PRTA) Given Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

Shares of Prothena Corporation plc (NASDAQ:PRTA) have been given an average rating of “Moderate Buy” by the eight ratings firms that are covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, one has given a hold recommendation, five have assigned a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price target among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $23.75.

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on PRTA shares. UBS Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Prothena in a research report on Friday, July 24th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Prothena from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, July 25th. Citigroup reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Prothena in a report on Friday, May 8th. HC Wainwright reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $30.00 price target on shares of Prothena in a report on Friday, July 24th. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised shares of Prothena from a “sell (e+)” rating to a “sell (d-)” rating in a research note on Tuesday.

Prothena Stock Performance

NASDAQ:PRTA opened at $8.56 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $448.12 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -3.04, a PEG ratio of 1.37 and a beta of -0.31. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $9.11 and its 200 day simple moving average is $9.44. Prothena has a twelve month low of $6.61 and a twelve month high of $11.80.

Prothena (NASDAQ:PRTA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The biotechnology company reported $0.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 firm had revenue of $51.08 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $0.81 million. On average, analysts predict that Prothena will post 0.18 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Prothena

In other Prothena news, major shareholder William P. Scully bought 20,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 16th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $7.90 per share, with a total value of $158,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 756,000 shares in the company, valued at $5,972,400. The trade was a 2.72% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders bought 345,000 shares of company stock worth $3,097,250 in the last three months. 10.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of PRTA. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC grew its stake in Prothena by 571.0% during the 2nd quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 12,709 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $77,000 after purchasing an additional 10,815 shares in the last quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Prothena in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $100,000. PDT Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Prothena during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $108,000. Voleon Capital Management LP purchased a new position in shares of Prothena during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $113,000. Finally, DRW Securities LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Prothena during the fourth quarter worth approximately $114,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.08% of the company’s stock.

About Prothena

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.