Prothena (NASDAQ:PRTA) Hits New 12-Month Low at $21.31

Prothena Co. plc (NASDAQ:PRTA) reached a new 52-week low on Tuesday . The company traded as low as $21.31 and last traded at $21.96, with a volume of 17476 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $21.99.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have commented on the company. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating on shares of Prothena in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Oppenheimer lowered their price target on Prothena from $98.00 to $80.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, February 20th. StockNews.com lowered Prothena from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, February 19th. JMP Securities upped their price target on Prothena from $81.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 16th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price target on Prothena from $36.00 to $35.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Prothena presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $69.63.

Prothena Trading Down 1.6 %

The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $26.22 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $33.12. The stock has a market cap of $1.13 billion, a PE ratio of -7.50 and a beta of 0.21.

Prothena (NASDAQ:PRTA) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The biotechnology company reported ($1.26) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($1.23) by ($0.03). The company had revenue of $0.32 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.15 million. Prothena had a negative return on equity of 24.84% and a negative net margin of 160.91%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 99.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.12 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Prothena Co. plc will post -4.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CAO Karin L. Walker sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.00, for a total value of $170,000.00. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 28.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Prothena

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. SG Americas Securities LLC grew its stake in shares of Prothena by 46.9% in the 4th quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 135,857 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $4,937,000 after buying an additional 43,363 shares during the last quarter. Trexquant Investment LP bought a new position in Prothena in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $2,743,000. Mariner LLC lifted its position in Prothena by 24.3% in the 3rd quarter. Mariner LLC now owns 167,932 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $8,103,000 after acquiring an additional 32,870 shares in the last quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd lifted its position in Prothena by 104.5% in the 3rd quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 84,653 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $4,085,000 after acquiring an additional 43,256 shares in the last quarter. Finally, China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its position in Prothena by 99.0% in the 3rd quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 1,375 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $66,000 after acquiring an additional 684 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.08% of the company’s stock.

About Prothena

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.