Prothena Co. plc (NASDAQ:PRTA) Receives Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Shares of Prothena Co. plc (NASDAQ:PRTA) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the seven brokerages that are covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and five have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price target among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $46.50.

A number of research firms have commented on PRTA. Chardan Capital initiated coverage on Prothena in a research note on Friday, December 20th. They set a “buy” rating and a $40.00 price target on the stock. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating on shares of Prothena in a report on Monday, September 30th. HC Wainwright reissued a “buy” rating and set a $48.00 price target (down previously from $84.00) on shares of Prothena in a research report on Friday, December 20th. StockNews.com cut shares of Prothena from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, Bank of America reduced their target price on shares of Prothena from $26.00 to $22.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 19th.

Prothena Trading Up 0.9 %

Shares of PRTA opened at $15.62 on Friday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $14.31 and its 200 day moving average price is $17.95. Prothena has a 12-month low of $11.70 and a 12-month high of $33.84. The firm has a market cap of $840.51 million, a P/E ratio of -6.30 and a beta of 0.10.

Prothena (NASDAQ:PRTA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 12th. The biotechnology company reported ($1.10) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.18) by $0.08. The business had revenue of $0.97 million for 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%. The business’s revenue was down 98.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.38 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Prothena will post -2.24 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in PRTA. Ensign Peak Advisors Inc lifted its position in shares of Prothena by 30.4% during the 2nd quarter. Ensign Peak Advisors Inc now owns 21,643 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $447,000 after purchasing an additional 5,050 shares during the last quarter. Algert Global LLC lifted its holdings in Prothena by 59.7% during the 2nd quarter. Algert Global LLC now owns 77,191 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $1,593,000 after buying an additional 28,841 shares during the last quarter. Systematic Financial Management LP boosted its position in shares of Prothena by 25.8% during the 2nd quarter. Systematic Financial Management LP now owns 193,763 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $3,999,000 after acquiring an additional 39,771 shares in the last quarter. Duncan Williams Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Prothena in the 3rd quarter valued at about $816,000. Finally, Creative Planning acquired a new stake in shares of Prothena during the 3rd quarter worth about $350,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.08% of the company’s stock.

About Prothena

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.