Guggenheim Capital LLC Makes New Investment in Prothena Co. plc (NASDAQ:PRTA)

Guggenheim Capital LLC acquired a new position in Prothena Co. plc (NASDAQ:PRTA) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 17,390 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock, valued at approximately $843,000.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its stake in Prothena by 7.5% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 3,205,903 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $193,156,000 after acquiring an additional 223,962 shares during the last quarter. Avidity Partners Management LP increased its stake in Prothena by 50.1% in the 4th quarter. Avidity Partners Management LP now owns 2,953,000 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $177,918,000 after acquiring an additional 986,000 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Prothena by 20.0% in the 1st quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,367,583 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $86,583,000 after purchasing an additional 394,633 shares during the period. First Light Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Prothena by 13.3% in the 1st quarter. First Light Asset Management LLC now owns 1,838,548 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $67,236,000 after purchasing an additional 215,607 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in shares of Prothena by 0.4% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,505,156 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $55,044,000 after purchasing an additional 6,619 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 97.08% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PRTA has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $129.00 target price on shares of Prothena in a report on Tuesday, August 22nd. HC Wainwright reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $90.00 target price on shares of Prothena in a report on Friday, August 4th. JMP Securities lifted their target price on Prothena from $82.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, August 4th. Finally, StockNews.com initiated coverage on Prothena in a report on Thursday, August 17th. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $87.56.

Prothena Stock Up 4.4 %

PRTA opened at $55.15 on Tuesday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $63.40 and a 200 day moving average of $60.79. Prothena Co. plc has a 52-week low of $25.02 and a 52-week high of $79.65. The stock has a market cap of $2.95 billion, a P/E ratio of -19.91 and a beta of 0.39.

Prothena (NASDAQ:PRTA) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, August 3rd. The biotechnology company reported ($1.03) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.92) by ($0.11). The firm had revenue of $4.02 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.09 million. Prothena had a negative net margin of 244.45% and a negative return on equity of 25.43%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 206.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned ($0.88) earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that Prothena Co. plc will post -2.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Prothena

In other Prothena news, insider Wagner M. Zago sold 19,000 shares of Prothena stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $71.06, for a total transaction of $1,350,140.00. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, insider Hideki Garren sold 4,669 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.22, for a total value of $346,533.18. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Wagner M. Zago sold 19,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $71.06, for a total value of $1,350,140.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 87,333 shares of company stock valued at $5,904,733 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 28.20% of the company’s stock.

About Prothena

Prothena Corporation plc, a late-stage clinical 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, which is in Phase IIb clinical trial for the treatment of Parkinson's disease and other related synucleinopathies; NNC6019 that completed Phase I clinical trial for the treatment of ATTR amyloidosis; and PRX005, which is in Phase I clinical trial for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease.