Prothena (NASDAQ:PRTA) Major Shareholder Acquires $439,500.00 in Stock

Prothena Corporation plc (NASDAQ:PRTA) major shareholder William Scully acquired 50,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 20th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $8.79 per share, for a total transaction of $439,500.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the insider directly owned 800,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,032,000. This represents a 6.67% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Major shareholders that own more than 10% of a company’s stock are required to disclose their transactions with the SEC.

Prothena Price Performance

NASDAQ:PRTA opened at $9.45 on Monday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $8.98 and a 200-day moving average of $9.37. The company has a market cap of $494.71 million, a PE ratio of -11.25, a PEG ratio of 3.33 and a beta of -0.29. Prothena Corporation plc has a one year low of $7.73 and a one year high of $11.80.

Prothena (NASDAQ:PRTA) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.32) earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.39) by $0.07. Prothena had a negative net margin of 80.68% and a negative return on equity of 16.45%. The company had revenue of $1.01 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $0.42 million. On average, equities research analysts expect that Prothena Corporation plc will post 0.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently commented on PRTA shares. UBS Group reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Prothena in a research note on Friday, July 24th. HC Wainwright reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $30.00 target price on shares of Prothena in a research report on Friday, July 24th. Weiss Ratings downgraded Prothena from a “sell (d-)” rating to a “sell (e+)” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 11th. Wall Street Zen cut Prothena from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, July 25th. Finally, Citizens Jmp lifted their price objective on shares of Prothena from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a report on Friday, May 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have issued a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $23.75.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Prothena

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of PRTA. Rubric Capital Management LP raised its position in Prothena by 138.7% in the fourth quarter. Rubric Capital Management LP now owns 3,677,331 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $35,119,000 after acquiring an additional 2,136,958 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its position in shares of Prothena by 151.7% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,267,802 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $21,658,000 after acquiring an additional 1,366,764 shares during the period. Rangeley Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Prothena during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $4,342,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership purchased a new stake in shares of Prothena during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $6,386,000. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings in shares of Prothena by 479.6% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 735,765 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $7,181,000 after purchasing an additional 608,814 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 97.08% of the company’s stock.

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.