Insider Buying: Prothena (NASDAQ:PRTA) Major Shareholder Acquires $465,500.00 in Stock

Prothena Corporation plc (NASDAQ:PRTA) major shareholder William Scully purchased 50,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 4th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $9.31 per share, with a total value of $465,500.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the insider directly owned 936,000 shares in the company, valued at $8,714,160. The trade was a 5.64% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Major shareholders that own at least 10% of a company’s stock are required to disclose their transactions with the SEC.

Prothena Stock Performance

Shares of PRTA opened at $8.79 on Monday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $10.12 and a two-hundred day moving average of $9.71. The company has a market capitalization of $460.16 million, a PE ratio of -3.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.41 and a beta of -0.25. Prothena Corporation plc has a fifty-two week low of $4.95 and a fifty-two week high of $11.80.

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

Institutional Trading of Prothena

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. ADAR1 Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Prothena by 8.5% in the 1st quarter. ADAR1 Capital Management LLC now owns 1,581,443 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $15,372,000 after purchasing an additional 123,679 shares in the last quarter. Rubric Capital Management LP increased its holdings in Prothena by 36.0% in the 1st quarter. Rubric Capital Management LP now owns 5,000,000 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $48,600,000 after purchasing an additional 1,322,669 shares in the last quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP increased its holdings in Prothena by 39.3% in the 1st quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 144,299 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $1,403,000 after purchasing an additional 40,681 shares in the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC increased its holdings in Prothena by 39.5% in the 1st quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 607,515 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $5,905,000 after purchasing an additional 172,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sei Investments Co. acquired a new stake in Prothena in the 1st quarter valued at $168,000. 97.08% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have weighed in on PRTA. Citigroup reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Prothena in a report on Friday, May 8th. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price target on 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 Prothena in a report on Friday, March 13th. Citizens Jmp boosted their price target on Prothena from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a report on Friday, May 8th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded Prothena from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have given a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $23.75.

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.