Analysts Set Prothena Corporation plc (NASDAQ:PRTA) Price Target at $23.75

Prothena Corporation plc (NASDAQ:PRTA) has been given a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” by the eight brokerages that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $23.75.

PRTA has been the topic of several analyst reports. Citigroup reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Prothena in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $19.00 target price on shares of Prothena in a research note on Friday, March 13th. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their target price on shares of Prothena from $11.00 to $12.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 20th. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Prothena from a “sell (d-)” rating to a “sell (e+)” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 2nd. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Prothena from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, June 6th.

Prothena Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ PRTA opened at $8.25 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $9.99 and its 200-day moving average price is $9.64. The company has a market cap of $431.89 million, a PE ratio of -2.93, a P/E/G ratio of 1.32 and a beta of -0.25. Prothena has a 52-week low of $4.95 and a 52-week high of $11.80.

Prothena (NASDAQ:PRTA) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The biotechnology company reported $0.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.31) by $0.91. The firm had revenue of $51.08 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $0.81 million. Prothena had a negative net margin of 260.92% and a negative return on equity of 43.44%. On average, analysts forecast that Prothena will post 0.18 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, major shareholder William P. Scully acquired 125,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 11th. The shares were bought at an average price of $8.17 per share, for a total transaction of $1,021,250.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 1,061,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,668,370. This trade represents a 13.35% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders have purchased a total of 325,000 shares of company stock worth $2,939,250 in the last 90 days. 10.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Intech Investment Management LLC lifted its position in Prothena by 5.5% during the third quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 19,388 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $189,000 after purchasing an additional 1,014 shares during the period. Brooklyn Investment Group lifted its position in Prothena by 13.1% during the third quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 12,569 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $123,000 after purchasing an additional 1,456 shares during the period. Deutsche Bank AG lifted its position in Prothena by 5.1% during the fourth quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 35,482 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $339,000 after purchasing an additional 1,709 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its position in Prothena by 3.8% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 81,515 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $779,000 after purchasing an additional 2,968 shares during the period. Finally, Virtus Investment Advisers LLC lifted its position in Prothena by 14.4% during the fourth quarter. Virtus Investment Advisers LLC now owns 25,679 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $245,000 after purchasing an additional 3,236 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 97.08% of the company’s stock.

About Prothena

Prothena Corporation plc is a clinical-stage biotechnology company dedicated to the discovery and development of novel therapies for neurodegenerative and rare diseases driven by misfolded proteins. The company’s research focuses on immunotherapies and small molecules designed to target and clear disease-causing protein aggregates. Prothena leverages proprietary protein engineering and antibody discovery platforms to advance candidates through preclinical and clinical stages.

The company’s most advanced program is an antibody targeting aggregated alpha-synuclein for the potential treatment of Parkinson’s disease, currently in mid-stage clinical trials.