Insider Buying: Prothena (NASDAQ:PRTA) Major Shareholder Purchases $835,000.00 in Stock

Prothena Corporation plc (NASDAQ:PRTA) major shareholder William Scully bought 100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 13th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $8.35 per share, for a total transaction of $835,000.00. Following the purchase, the insider directly owned 1,027,000 shares in the company, valued at $8,575,450. This trade represents a 10.79% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Large shareholders that own 10% or more of a company’s shares are required to disclose their sales and purchases with the SEC.

Prothena Price Performance

Shares of Prothena stock traded up $0.13 on Thursday, reaching $8.50. The company had a trading volume of 358,337 shares, compared to its average volume of 512,088. The firm has a market cap of $444.98 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -10.12, a P/E/G ratio of 2.95 and a beta of -0.29. Prothena Corporation plc has a 1 year low of $7.73 and a 1 year high of $11.80. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $8.90 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $9.32.

Prothena (NASDAQ:PRTA) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.32) earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.39) by $0.07. Prothena had a negative return on equity of 16.45% and a negative net margin of 80.68%. The business had revenue of $1.01 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $0.42 million. As a group, analysts anticipate that Prothena Corporation plc will post 0.08 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Prothena

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of PRTA. Versant Capital Management Inc grew its stake in Prothena by 179.1% during the third quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 5,704 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $48,000 after buying an additional 3,660 shares during the period. Engineers Gate Manager LP acquired a new position in Prothena during the 2nd quarter worth $404,000. Headlands Technologies LLC bought a new stake in Prothena in the second quarter valued at about $148,000. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio bought a new stake in shares of Prothena in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $413,000. Finally, Great Lakes Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Prothena during the second quarter worth about $281,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.08% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

PRTA has been the subject of several research reports. UBS Group reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Prothena in a research note on Friday, July 24th. HC Wainwright reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $30.00 target price on shares of Prothena in a report on Friday, July 24th. Weiss Ratings raised Prothena from a “sell (e+)” rating to a “sell (d-)” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut Prothena from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, July 25th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $24.57.

About Prothena

Prothena Corporation plc is a clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on discovering and developing therapies for diseases caused by protein misfolding or abnormal protein accumulation. Its research programs target neurological and systemic disorders, including Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, and transthyretin amyloidosis.

The company’s pipeline has included PRX012, an investigational next-generation antibody targeting amyloid beta for Alzheimer’s disease; prasinezumab, an anti-alpha-synuclein antibody being developed for Parkinson’s disease through a collaboration with Roche; and birtamimab, an investigational treatment designed to target misfolded light chains associated with AL amyloidosis.