Prothena (NASDAQ:PRTA) Shares Up 6% – Still a Buy?

Prothena Co. plc (NASDAQ:PRTA) shares rose 6% on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $14.73 and last traded at $14.75. Approximately 139,591 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 60% from the average daily volume of 352,595 shares. The stock had previously closed at $13.91.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently commented on PRTA. Bank of America dropped their price target on shares of Prothena from $26.00 to $22.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their target price on Prothena from $24.00 to $20.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating on shares of Prothena in a research report on Friday. StockNews.com downgraded Prothena from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, HC Wainwright reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $48.00 price target on shares of Prothena in a research report on Friday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $45.83.

Prothena Stock Up 2.0 %

The company has a 50-day moving average of $14.28 and a 200 day moving average of $16.83. The firm has a market capitalization of $837.28 million, a PE ratio of -6.27 and a beta of 0.08.

Prothena (NASDAQ:PRTA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The biotechnology company reported ($1.08) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.02) by ($0.06). The company had revenue of $2.12 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.53 million. Prothena had a negative return on equity of 24.19% and a negative net margin of 98.86%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Prothena Co. plc will post -2.24 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Prothena

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Creative Planning purchased a new position in shares of Prothena in the third quarter worth $350,000. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its position in shares of Prothena by 63.7% in the third quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 10,344 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $173,000 after acquiring an additional 4,026 shares during the period. Pinnacle Associates Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Prothena by 2.3% during the third quarter. Pinnacle Associates Ltd. now owns 125,747 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $2,104,000 after acquiring an additional 2,847 shares during the last quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP purchased a new stake in shares of Prothena during the third quarter worth about $484,000. Finally, Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Prothena by 8.6% during the third quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 122,492 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $2,049,000 after purchasing an additional 9,666 shares during the period. 97.08% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.