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

Prothena (NASDAQ:PRTA) was downgraded by equities researchers at Wall Street Zen from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a note issued to investors on Saturday.

PRTA has been the topic of several other reports. Citigroup reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Prothena in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Prothena from a “sell (d-)” rating to a “sell (e+)” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 9th. HC Wainwright reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $30.00 price objective on shares of Prothena in a research note on Friday. UBS Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Prothena in a report on Friday. Finally, 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 research note on Friday, May 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have issued a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Prothena currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $23.75.

Prothena Price Performance

Prothena stock opened at $8.75 on Friday. Prothena has a one year low of $6.58 and a one year high of $11.80. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $9.15 and a 200-day moving average price of $9.44. The firm has a market capitalization of $458.06 million, a P/E ratio of -3.10, a PEG ratio of 1.36 and a beta of -0.31.

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

Insider Activity

In other Prothena news, major shareholder William P. Scully purchased 20,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 16th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $7.90 per share, for a total transaction of $158,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 756,000 shares in the company, valued at $5,972,400. The trade was a 2.72% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In the last ninety days, insiders bought 345,000 shares of company stock worth $3,097,250. Company insiders own 10.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Prothena

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