Prothena (NASDAQ:PRTA) Stock Price Passes Below 200-Day Moving Average – Should You Sell?

Prothena Corporation plc (NASDAQ:PRTA) passed below its two hundred day moving average during trading on Monday . The stock has a two hundred day moving average of $9.50 and traded as low as $8.76. Prothena shares last traded at $8.83, with a volume of 781,724 shares.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Citizens Jmp increased their target price on Prothena from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a report on Friday, May 8th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Prothena from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, June 6th. Citigroup reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Prothena in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Finally, Weiss Ratings downgraded Prothena from a “sell (d-)” rating to a “sell (e+)” rating in a research note on Thursday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have assigned a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $23.75.

Prothena Stock Down 4.4%

The stock’s 50-day moving average is $9.44 and its 200 day moving average is $9.50. The stock has a market capitalization of $462.25 million, a PE ratio of -3.13, a P/E/G ratio of 1.48 and a beta of -0.31.

Prothena (NASDAQ:PRTA) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The biotechnology company reported $0.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 net margin of 260.92% and a negative return on equity of 43.44%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Prothena Corporation plc will post 0.18 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Prothena

In related news, major shareholder William P. Scully purchased 125,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 11th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $8.17 per share, with a total value of $1,021,250.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the insider owned 1,061,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,668,370. The trade was a 13.35% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders have acquired 345,000 shares of company stock valued at $3,097,250 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 10.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Prothena by 2.5% during the 2nd quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 90,795 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $889,000 after purchasing an additional 2,251 shares in the last quarter. ADAR1 Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 123,679 shares in the last quarter. Rubric Capital Management LP grew its stake 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 valued at $48,600,000 after buying an additional 1,322,669 shares in the last quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP increased its holdings in Prothena by 39.3% in the first quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 144,299 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $1,403,000 after buying an additional 40,681 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC increased its holdings in Prothena by 39.5% in the first quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 607,515 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $5,905,000 after buying an additional 172,000 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.08% of the company’s stock.

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.