Prothena Co. plc (NASDAQ:PRTA) Given Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

Shares of Prothena Co. plc (NASDAQ:PRTA) have earned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the seven ratings firms that are covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and five have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $61.86.

Several equities analysts have commented on PRTA shares. Oppenheimer decreased their price target on shares of Prothena from $66.00 to $62.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, August 14th. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating on shares of Prothena in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Royal Bank of Canada cut their target price on shares of Prothena from $28.00 to $24.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 9th. HC Wainwright reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $84.00 target price on shares of Prothena in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Prothena from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, August 12th.

Prothena Stock Down 1.9 %

NASDAQ:PRTA opened at $16.27 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $19.58 and its two-hundred day moving average is $20.85. Prothena has a 52 week low of $15.52 and a 52 week high of $42.44. The stock has a market capitalization of $875.00 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -16.27 and a beta of 0.17.

Prothena (NASDAQ:PRTA) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, August 8th. The biotechnology company reported $1.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($1.01) by $2.23. The firm had revenue of $132.01 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.73 million. Prothena had a negative return on equity of 9.00% and a negative net margin of 23.44%. Prothena’s revenue was up 3184.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned ($1.03) EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Prothena will post -2.34 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Prothena

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of PRTA. Signaturefd LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Prothena by 182.1% in the 2nd quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 1,337 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 863 shares during the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Prothena by 265.9% in the fourth quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 1,544 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $56,000 after acquiring an additional 1,122 shares during the period. Headlands Technologies LLC purchased a new position in shares of Prothena during the first quarter worth approximately $96,000. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank increased its holdings in shares of Prothena by 13.1% in the 2nd quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 10,236 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $211,000 after acquiring an additional 1,186 shares during the period. Finally, Focused Wealth Management Inc raised its position in Prothena by 7,751.9% in the 1st quarter. Focused Wealth Management Inc now owns 10,129 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $251,000 after purchasing an additional 10,000 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.08% of the company’s stock.

Prothena Company Profile

Prothena Corporation plc, a late-stage clinical biotechnology company, focuses on discovery and development of novel therapies to treat diseases caused by protein dysregulation in the United States. The company is involved in developing birtamimab, an investigational humanized antibody that is in Phase III clinical trial for the treatment of AL amyloidosis; Prasinezumab, a humanized monoclonal antibody, for the treatment of Parkinson’s disease and other related synucleinopathies which is in Phase IIb clinical trial; NNC6019 that is in Phase lI clinical trial for the treatment of ATTR amyloidosis; and BMS-986446 and PRX012, which is in Phase I clinical trial for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease.