Barclays PLC Increases Stock Position in Prothena Co. plc (NASDAQ:PRTA)

Barclays PLC grew its holdings in Prothena Co. plc (NASDAQ:PRTA) by 110.2% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 95,222 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after buying an additional 49,916 shares during the period. Barclays PLC’s holdings in Prothena were worth $1,592,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in Prothena by 63.7% in the 3rd quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 10,344 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $173,000 after buying an additional 4,026 shares in the last quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Prothena in the third quarter valued at $210,000. XTX Topco Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Prothena during the third quarter valued at $260,000. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC increased its position in Prothena by 4.4% during the 3rd quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC now owns 17,531 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $293,000 after purchasing an additional 739 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Creative Planning purchased a new stake in Prothena during the 3rd quarter worth about $350,000. 97.08% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

PRTA has been the topic of several analyst reports. HC Wainwright reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $48.00 price target (down from $84.00) on shares of Prothena in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Bank of America reduced their price objective on shares of Prothena from $26.00 to $22.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. StockNews.com downgraded Prothena from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Chardan Capital assumed coverage on Prothena in a report on Friday, December 20th. They set a “buy” rating and a $40.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating on shares of Prothena in a research note on Monday, September 30th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $46.50.

Prothena Stock Down 7.8 %

Shares of PRTA opened at $13.05 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $702.21 million, a PE ratio of -5.26 and a beta of 0.10. The company’s fifty day moving average is $14.92 and its two-hundred day moving average is $18.39. Prothena Co. plc has a fifty-two week low of $11.70 and a fifty-two week high of $36.20.

Prothena (NASDAQ:PRTA) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, November 12th. The biotechnology company reported ($1.10) earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.18) by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $0.97 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.22 million. Prothena had a negative return on equity of 24.19% and a negative net margin of 98.86%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 98.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.38 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Prothena Co. plc will post -2.24 earnings per share for the current year.

Prothena 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.