Prothena (NASDAQ:PRTA) Trading Down 9% – Time to Sell?

Shares of Prothena Co. plc (NASDAQ:PRTA) fell 9% during mid-day trading on Friday . The company traded as low as $12.84 and last traded at $12.88. 180,595 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 57% from the average session volume of 420,744 shares. The stock had previously closed at $14.16.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the company. HC Wainwright restated a “buy” rating and issued a $48.00 price objective (down from $84.00) on shares of Prothena in a report on Friday, December 20th. StockNews.com cut shares of Prothena from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Bank of America dropped their price objective 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. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating on shares of Prothena in a report on Monday, September 30th. Finally, Chardan Capital assumed coverage on Prothena in a report on Friday, December 20th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $40.00 price target for the company. One investment 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. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $46.50.

Prothena Trading Down 7.8 %

The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $14.92 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $18.39. The company has a market capitalization of $702.21 million, a PE ratio of -5.26 and a beta of 0.10.

Prothena (NASDAQ:PRTA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 12th. The biotechnology company reported ($1.10) EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.18) by $0.08. Prothena had a negative return on equity of 24.19% and a negative net margin of 98.86%. The firm had revenue of $0.97 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.22 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.38 earnings per share. Prothena’s revenue for the quarter was down 98.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that Prothena Co. plc will post -2.24 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Prothena

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in PRTA. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in shares of Prothena by 14.8% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 4,178,788 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $69,911,000 after acquiring an additional 539,359 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its holdings in Prothena by 1,122.9% in the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 526,748 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $8,812,000 after purchasing an additional 483,673 shares during the period. Armistice Capital LLC increased its stake in Prothena by 42.3% during the second quarter. Armistice Capital LLC now owns 1,560,000 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $32,198,000 after purchasing an additional 464,000 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC lifted its position in shares of Prothena by 110.2% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 95,222 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $1,592,000 after buying an additional 49,916 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Duncan Williams Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Prothena in the 3rd quarter valued at about $816,000. Institutional investors own 97.08% of the company’s stock.

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.