Prothena (NASDAQ:PRTA) Trading 4.8% Higher – Should You Buy?

Prothena Co. plc (NASDAQ:PRTA)’s share price was up 4.8% during trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $13.20 and last traded at $13.25. Approximately 491,749 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 2% from the average daily volume of 483,168 shares. The stock had previously closed at $12.65.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently commented on PRTA. HC Wainwright reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $48.00 target price on shares of Prothena in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating on shares of Prothena in a report on Friday, February 21st. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Prothena from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, February 24th. Chardan Capital restated a “buy” rating and issued a $40.00 price objective on shares of Prothena in a report on Friday, February 21st. Finally, Oppenheimer increased their target price on Prothena from $58.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $55.00.

Prothena Trading Up 4.7 %

The firm has a market capitalization of $712.94 million, a PE ratio of -5.76 and a beta of -0.02. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $14.33 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $15.69.

Prothena (NASDAQ:PRTA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 20th. The biotechnology company reported ($1.08) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.02) by ($0.06). Prothena had a negative net margin of 90.50% and a negative return on equity of 22.67%. The business had revenue of $2.12 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.53 million. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Prothena Co. plc will post -4.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in Prothena by 22.8% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 5,130,876 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $71,063,000 after acquiring an additional 952,088 shares in the last quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP increased its stake in shares of Prothena by 265.4% in the fourth quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP now owns 38,394 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $532,000 after purchasing an additional 27,887 shares in the last quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC raised its position in shares of Prothena by 24.8% during the 4th quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC now owns 77,672 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $1,076,000 after purchasing an additional 15,442 shares during the period. ProShare Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Prothena by 29.5% during the 4th quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 14,524 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $201,000 after buying an additional 3,312 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Man Group plc boosted its holdings in Prothena by 90.7% in the 4th quarter. Man Group plc now owns 77,430 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $1,072,000 after buying an additional 36,824 shares during the period. 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.