Prothena (NASDAQ:PRTA) Downgraded by Wall Street Zen to “Hold”

Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Prothena (NASDAQ:PRTA) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note published on Saturday.

A number of other research firms also recently weighed in on PRTA. HC Wainwright reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $30.00 price target on shares of Prothena in a research report on Friday. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Prothena from a “sell (d-)” rating to a “sell (e+)” rating in a report on Thursday, July 9th. Citigroup reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Prothena in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Citizens Jmp increased their target price on shares of Prothena from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a report on Friday, May 8th. Finally, UBS Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Prothena in a research report on Friday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Prothena has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $23.75.

Prothena Trading Up 2.6%

PRTA stock opened at $8.75 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $9.15 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $9.44. The stock has a market cap of $458.09 million, a PE ratio of -3.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.40 and a beta of -0.31. Prothena has a 1 year low of $6.58 and a 1 year high of $11.80.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Prothena

In related news, major shareholder William P. Scully acquired 125,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 purchase, 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Over the last quarter, insiders purchased 345,000 shares of company stock worth $3,097,250. 10.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Prothena

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in PRTA. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC lifted its stake in Prothena by 571.0% in the second quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 12,709 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $77,000 after acquiring an additional 10,815 shares during the last quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Prothena in the 4th quarter valued at about $100,000. PDT Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Prothena during the 4th quarter worth about $108,000. Voleon Capital Management LP acquired a new position in shares of Prothena during the 2nd quarter worth about $113,000. Finally, DRW Securities LLC bought a new stake in shares of Prothena in the 4th quarter valued at about $114,000. 97.08% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Prothena Company Profile

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.