Prothena (NASDAQ:PRTA) Stock Price Crosses Above Fifty Day Moving Average – Should You Sell?

Shares of Prothena Corporation plc (NASDAQ:PRTA) passed above its fifty day moving average during trading on Monday . The stock has a fifty day moving average of $9.83 and traded as high as $10.26. Prothena shares last traded at $9.94, with a volume of 470,286 shares traded.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on PRTA shares. Chardan Capital raised shares of Prothena to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 19th. UBS Group set a $36.00 price objective on shares of Prothena in a research note on Tuesday, October 28th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Prothena from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, November 8th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (e+)” rating on shares of Prothena in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price target on Prothena from $10.00 to $11.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $25.60.

Prothena Stock Down 0.6%

The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $9.83 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $9.12. The company has a market capitalization of $535.07 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -1.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.11 and a beta of -0.09.

Prothena (NASDAQ:PRTA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 6th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.67) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.60) by ($0.07). The firm had revenue of $2.42 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.64 million. Prothena had a negative net margin of 2,379.59% and a negative return on equity of 65.89%. Equities research analysts expect that Prothena Corporation plc will post -4.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Prothena

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Squarepoint Ops LLC acquired a new stake in Prothena during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $1,270,000. Purkiss Capital Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Prothena by 15.1% in the second quarter. Purkiss Capital Advisors LLC now owns 24,904 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $151,000 after buying an additional 3,275 shares during the period. Prospera Financial Services Inc bought a new stake in shares of Prothena during the second quarter worth $61,000. Birchview Capital LP lifted its position in Prothena by 35.5% in the 2nd quarter. Birchview Capital LP now owns 451,019 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $2,738,000 after acquiring an additional 118,045 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. bought a new stake in Prothena in the 3rd quarter valued at $876,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.08% of the company’s stock.

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.