Prothena (NASDAQ:PRTA) Raised to Hold at StockNews.com

Prothena (NASDAQ:PRTA) was upgraded by StockNews.com from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Monday.

A number of other research firms also recently weighed in on PRTA. HC Wainwright dropped their target price on Prothena from $90.00 to $84.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 9th. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their target price on shares of Prothena from $28.00 to $24.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday. JMP Securities dropped their price target on shares of Prothena from $85.00 to $83.00 and set a “market outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 9th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating on shares of Prothena in a research note on Monday. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $65.43.

Prothena Stock Performance

Shares of PRTA stock traded down $0.43 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $20.12. The company had a trading volume of 355,540 shares, compared to its average volume of 634,383. Prothena has a 12 month low of $18.69 and a 12 month high of $61.68. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $21.55 and its 200 day moving average is $23.59. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -6.19 and a beta of 0.21.

Prothena (NASDAQ:PRTA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 8th. The biotechnology company reported $1.22 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.01) by $2.23. Prothena had a negative return on equity of 30.48% and a negative net margin of 193.17%. The business had revenue of $132.01 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.73 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned ($1.03) EPS. Prothena’s revenue for the quarter was up 3184.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Prothena will post -4.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Artal Group S.A. raised its holdings in Prothena by 99.7% during the 1st quarter. Artal Group S.A. now owns 1,001,360 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $24,804,000 after buying an additional 500,000 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its holdings in shares of Prothena by 21.1% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 2,594,102 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $94,270,000 after acquiring an additional 452,455 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its position in Prothena by 10.9% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 4,237,351 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $153,986,000 after acquiring an additional 417,338 shares in the last quarter. Armistice Capital LLC acquired a new position in Prothena in the 4th quarter worth $10,103,000. Finally, Granahan Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in Prothena by 19.9% during the 4th quarter. Granahan Investment Management LLC now owns 417,157 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $15,159,000 after purchasing an additional 69,092 shares in the last quarter. 97.08% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.