Prothena (NASDAQ:PRTA) Rating Lowered to “Hold” at Wall Street Zen

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

A number of other equities research analysts have also weighed in on the company. Citigroup reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Prothena in a research note on Friday, May 8th. UBS Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Prothena in a research note on Friday. HC Wainwright reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $30.00 price objective on shares of Prothena in a research report on Friday. Citizens Jmp increased their price objective on Prothena from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Finally, Weiss Ratings cut shares of Prothena from a “sell (d-)” rating to a “sell (e+)” rating in a report on Thursday, July 9th. 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 assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $23.75.

Prothena Price Performance

Prothena stock opened at $8.75 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $458.06 million, a PE ratio of -3.10, a P/E/G ratio of 1.40 and a beta of -0.31. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $9.15 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $9.45. Prothena has a twelve month low of $6.58 and a twelve month high of $11.80.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Prothena news, major shareholder William P. Scully purchased 125,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 11th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $8.17 per share, with a total value of $1,021,250.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 1,061,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,668,370. This trade represents a 13.35% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Over the last three months, insiders purchased 345,000 shares of company stock worth $3,097,250. Corporate insiders own 10.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Prothena

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Intech Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Prothena by 5.5% during the third quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 19,388 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $189,000 after acquiring an additional 1,014 shares in the last quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group lifted its stake in Prothena by 13.1% in the third quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 12,569 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $123,000 after acquiring an additional 1,456 shares during the period. Deutsche Bank AG boosted its holdings in Prothena by 5.1% in the fourth quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 35,482 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $339,000 after acquiring an additional 1,709 shares in the last quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Prothena by 2.5% in the second quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 90,795 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $889,000 after acquiring an additional 2,251 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its holdings in Prothena by 3.8% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 81,515 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $779,000 after acquiring an additional 2,968 shares in the last quarter. 97.08% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Prothena

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.