Prothena (NASDAQ:PRTA) Trading Down 4.8% – Should You Sell?

Prothena Co. plc (NASDAQ:PRTA) shares were down 4.8% during mid-day trading on Thursday . The stock traded as low as $14.94 and last traded at $15.05. Approximately 77,997 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 80% from the average daily volume of 387,240 shares. The stock had previously closed at $15.81.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have commented on PRTA shares. StockNews.com downgraded Prothena from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. HC Wainwright reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $48.00 price target (down previously from $84.00) on shares of Prothena in a research note on Friday, December 20th. 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 note on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, Chardan Capital assumed coverage on shares of Prothena in a research report on Friday, December 20th. They set a “buy” rating and a $40.00 target price on the stock. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Prothena presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $46.50.

Prothena Stock Down 7.1 %

The stock has a market capitalization of $790.68 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -5.91 and a beta of 0.10. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $14.43 and its 200 day simple moving average is $17.82.

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Prothena

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Prothena by 10.3% during the fourth quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 11,409 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $158,000 after purchasing an additional 1,065 shares during the last quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC bought a new position in Prothena in the 4th quarter valued at $159,000. Intech Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Prothena in the 3rd quarter valued at $210,000. XTX Topco Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Prothena during the third quarter worth $260,000. Finally, Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC lifted its stake in shares of Prothena by 4.4% during the third quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC now owns 17,531 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $293,000 after acquiring an additional 739 shares during the period. 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.