Prothena (NASDAQ:PRTA) Trading Down 4.8% – Time to Sell?

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

PRTA has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Chardan Capital assumed coverage on Prothena in a report on Friday, December 20th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $40.00 price objective for the company. Bank of America lowered their price target on Prothena from $26.00 to $22.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. HC Wainwright reissued a “buy” rating and set a $48.00 price objective (down previously from $84.00) on shares of Prothena in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Prothena from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Prothena presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $46.50.

Prothena Stock Down 7.1 %

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

Prothena (NASDAQ:PRTA) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 12th. The biotechnology company reported ($1.10) earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($1.18) by $0.08. Prothena had a negative return on equity of 24.19% and a negative net margin of 98.86%. The company had revenue of $0.97 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.22 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.38 earnings per share. Prothena’s revenue for the quarter was down 98.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that Prothena Co. plc will post -2.24 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Prothena

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position in Prothena by 14.8% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 4,178,788 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $69,911,000 after purchasing an additional 539,359 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its holdings in shares of Prothena by 1,122.9% in the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 526,748 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $8,812,000 after acquiring an additional 483,673 shares in the last quarter. Pinnacle Associates Ltd. increased its position in shares of Prothena by 2.3% in the third quarter. Pinnacle Associates Ltd. now owns 125,747 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $2,104,000 after acquiring an additional 2,847 shares during the last quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. raised its holdings in Prothena by 8.6% during the third quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 122,492 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $2,049,000 after acquiring an additional 9,666 shares in the last quarter. Finally, PDT Partners LLC boosted its position in Prothena by 7.7% during the third quarter. PDT Partners LLC now owns 110,654 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $1,851,000 after purchasing an additional 7,946 shares during the last quarter. 97.08% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.