Prothena (NASDAQ:PRTA) Trading Up 6.5% – Time to Buy?

Prothena Co. plc (NASDAQ:PRTA) rose 6.5% on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $14.01 and last traded at $14.01. Approximately 69,434 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 82% from the average daily volume of 391,969 shares. The stock had previously closed at $13.15.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PRTA has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. HC Wainwright reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $48.00 target price (down previously from $84.00) on shares of Prothena in a report on Friday, December 20th. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating on shares of Prothena in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Bank of America cut their target price on shares of Prothena from $26.00 to $22.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Prothena from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, Chardan Capital assumed coverage on shares of Prothena in a research report on Friday, December 20th. They set a “buy” rating and a $40.00 price objective for the company. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $52.29.

Prothena Stock Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $760.32 million, a PE ratio of -5.70 and a beta of 0.10. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $15.21 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $18.58.

Prothena (NASDAQ:PRTA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 12th. The biotechnology company reported ($1.10) EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.18) by $0.08. The company had revenue of $0.97 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.22 million. Prothena had a negative net margin of 98.86% and a negative return on equity of 24.19%. Prothena’s revenue for the quarter was down 98.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.38 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Prothena Co. plc will post -2.24 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Prothena

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in Prothena by 14.8% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 4,178,788 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $69,911,000 after acquiring an additional 539,359 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its position in shares of Prothena by 1,122.9% in the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 526,748 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $8,812,000 after purchasing an additional 483,673 shares in the last quarter. Armistice Capital LLC grew its stake in Prothena by 42.3% during the 2nd quarter. Armistice Capital LLC now owns 1,560,000 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $32,198,000 after buying an additional 464,000 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC raised its stake in Prothena by 110.2% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 95,222 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $1,592,000 after buying an additional 49,916 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Duncan Williams Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in Prothena in the third quarter worth about $816,000. 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.