Prothena (NASDAQ:PRTA) Trading Up 6% – Time to Buy?

Prothena Co. plc (NASDAQ:PRTA)’s stock price rose 6% during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $14.73 and last traded at $14.75. Approximately 139,591 shares changed 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.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PRTA has been the subject of a number of research reports. Chardan Capital reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $40.00 price objective on shares of Prothena in a report on Friday. HC Wainwright reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $48.00 price target on shares of Prothena in a research note on Friday. Bank of America lowered their price target 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. Oppenheimer upped their price objective on shares of Prothena from $58.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating on shares of Prothena in a report on Friday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $45.83.

Prothena Stock Up 2.0 %

The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $14.28 and its 200-day simple moving average is $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 announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 20th. The biotechnology company reported ($1.08) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.02) by ($0.06). Prothena had a negative return on equity of 24.19% and a negative net margin of 98.86%. The firm had revenue of $2.12 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.53 million. As a group, analysts predict that Prothena Co. plc will post -2.24 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Prothena

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Two Sigma Investments LP lifted its stake in Prothena by 265.4% during the 4th quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP now owns 38,394 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $532,000 after acquiring an additional 27,887 shares during the period. Rafferty Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Prothena by 24.8% during the fourth quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC now owns 77,672 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $1,076,000 after purchasing an additional 15,442 shares during the last quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC lifted its position in Prothena by 29.5% during the fourth quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 14,524 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $201,000 after purchasing an additional 3,312 shares during the period. Man Group plc boosted its holdings in Prothena by 90.7% in the fourth quarter. Man Group plc now owns 77,430 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $1,072,000 after purchasing an additional 36,824 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Millennium Management LLC boosted its holdings in Prothena by 9.3% in the fourth quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 123,005 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $1,704,000 after purchasing an additional 10,467 shares during the last quarter. 97.08% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.