Prothena (NASDAQ:PRTA) Upgraded to Buy at Wall Street Zen

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

PRTA has been the topic of several other reports. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Prothena from $11.00 to $12.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, February 20th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $19.00 price target on shares of Prothena in a research note on Friday, March 13th. Citizens Jmp raised their price target on shares of Prothena from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Citigroup reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Prothena in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Finally, Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Prothena from a “sell (d-)” rating to a “sell (e+)” rating in a research note on Tuesday. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have issued a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $23.75.

Prothena Stock Down 5.0%

PRTA opened at $8.79 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $460.16 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -3.12, a PEG ratio of 1.48 and a beta of -0.25. Prothena has a 52-week low of $4.95 and a 52-week high of $11.80. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $10.12 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $9.71.

Prothena (NASDAQ:PRTA) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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. The business had revenue of $51.08 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $0.81 million. Prothena had a negative net margin of 260.92% and a negative return on equity of 43.44%. On average, research analysts forecast that Prothena will post 0.18 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Prothena

In other news, major shareholder William P. Scully acquired 50,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 4th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $9.31 per share, for a total transaction of $465,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 936,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,714,160. This trade represents a 5.64% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Insiders have bought 200,000 shares of company stock worth $1,918,000 in the last ninety days. 10.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Prothena

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of PRTA. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Prothena during the first quarter worth about $230,000. Creative Planning increased its position in Prothena by 373.0% during the second quarter. Creative Planning now owns 50,569 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $307,000 after purchasing an additional 39,879 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. increased its position in Prothena by 72.1% during the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 59,965 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $364,000 after purchasing an additional 25,129 shares during the last quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. increased its position in Prothena by 7,956.6% during the second quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 96,196 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $584,000 after purchasing an additional 95,002 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hsbc Holdings PLC increased its position in Prothena by 251.8% during the second quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 46,047 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $282,000 after purchasing an additional 32,959 shares during the last quarter. 97.08% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.