Prothena (NASDAQ:PRTA) Stock Rating Lowered by Wall Street Zen

Prothena (NASDAQ:PRTA) was downgraded by Wall Street Zen from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report issued on Saturday.

Several other equities analysts have also commented on PRTA. Citigroup reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Prothena in a report on Friday, May 8th. 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 report on Friday, May 8th. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Prothena from a “sell (d-)” rating to a “sell (e+)” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 9th. HC Wainwright reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $30.00 price objective on shares of Prothena in a research note on Friday. Finally, UBS Group reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Prothena in a report on Friday. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $23.75.

Prothena Price Performance

Shares of PRTA opened at $8.75 on Friday. Prothena has a 1 year low of $6.58 and a 1 year high of $11.80. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $9.15 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $9.44. The firm has a market cap of $458.06 million, a P/E ratio of -3.10, a P/E/G ratio of 1.36 and a beta of -0.31.

Prothena (NASDAQ:PRTA) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The biotechnology company reported $0.60 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.31) by $0.91. The firm 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, equities analysts anticipate that Prothena will post 0.18 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Prothena

In other news, major shareholder William P. Scully bought 125,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 11th. The shares were bought 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 directly owned 1,061,000 shares in the company, valued at $8,668,370. This represents a 13.35% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Insiders have acquired 345,000 shares of company stock valued at $3,097,250 over the last quarter. 10.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Prothena

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Intech Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of Prothena by 5.5% in the third quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 19,388 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $189,000 after acquiring an additional 1,014 shares during the period. Brooklyn Investment Group boosted its holdings in shares of Prothena by 13.1% during the third quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 12,569 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $123,000 after purchasing an additional 1,456 shares during the period. Deutsche Bank AG boosted its holdings in shares of Prothena by 5.1% during the fourth quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 35,482 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $339,000 after purchasing an additional 1,709 shares during the period. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Prothena by 2.5% in the second 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its stake in shares of Prothena by 3.8% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 81,515 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $779,000 after purchasing an additional 2,968 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors 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.