Prothena (NASDAQ:PRTA) Major Shareholder Purchases $158,000.00 in Stock

Prothena Corporation plc (NASDAQ:PRTA) major shareholder William Scully acquired 20,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 16th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $7.90 per share, for a total transaction of $158,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 756,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,972,400. The trade was a 2.72% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Major shareholders that own 10% or more of a company’s stock are required to disclose their sales and purchases with the SEC.

Prothena Price Performance

NASDAQ PRTA opened at $8.93 on Friday. Prothena Corporation plc has a 52 week low of $5.64 and a 52 week high of $11.80. The firm has a market capitalization of $467.49 million, a P/E ratio of -3.17, a PEG ratio of 1.43 and a beta of -0.25. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $9.83 and a 200-day moving average price of $9.57.

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. 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $0.81 million. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Prothena Corporation plc will post 0.18 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Prothena

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Rubric Capital Management LP lifted its position in shares of Prothena by 36.0% in the 1st quarter. Rubric Capital Management LP now owns 5,000,000 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $48,600,000 after purchasing an additional 1,322,669 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in Prothena by 151.7% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,267,802 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $21,658,000 after buying an additional 1,366,764 shares during the period. ADAR1 Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Prothena by 8.5% during 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 acquiring an additional 123,679 shares in the last quarter. Palo Alto Investors LP increased its holdings in shares of Prothena by 3.9% in the 3rd quarter. Palo Alto Investors LP now owns 1,324,028 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $12,923,000 after acquiring an additional 49,275 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Prothena by 4.3% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,063,069 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $10,154,000 after purchasing an additional 43,586 shares in the last quarter. 97.08% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PRTA has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus set a $19.00 price target on Prothena in a report on Friday, March 13th. Weiss Ratings cut Prothena from a “sell (d-)” rating to a “sell (e+)” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 2nd. Citigroup reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Prothena in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Prothena from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, June 6th. Finally, Citizens Jmp upped their price target on shares of Prothena from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, May 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have issued a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Prothena presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $23.75.

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.