Prothena Corporation plc (NASDAQ:PRTA) Short Interest Up 40.1% in December

Prothena Corporation plc (NASDAQ:PRTA) saw a large growth in short interest during the month of December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totaling 6,584,532 shares, a growth of 40.1% from the December 15th total of 4,699,126 shares. Currently, 13.6% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 827,377 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 8.0 days. Based on an average daily volume of 827,377 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 8.0 days. Currently, 13.6% of the shares of the stock are short sold.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Intech Investment Management LLC increased its stake in 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 last quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group boosted its holdings in shares of Prothena by 13.1% in the 3rd 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 in the last quarter. Purkiss Capital Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Prothena by 15.1% during the 2nd quarter. Purkiss Capital Advisors LLC now owns 24,904 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $151,000 after purchasing an additional 3,275 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its holdings in shares of Prothena by 1.2% during the 2nd quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 311,605 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $1,916,000 after buying an additional 3,618 shares in the last quarter. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its position in Prothena by 9.2% in the 3rd quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 56,719 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $554,000 after buying an additional 4,778 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.08% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on PRTA shares. Citizens Jmp lifted their price objective on shares of Prothena from $11.00 to $19.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, December 1st. HC Wainwright lifted their price target on shares of Prothena from $20.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 7th. Chardan Capital upgraded shares of Prothena to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 19th. UBS Group set a $36.00 target price on Prothena in a research note on Tuesday, October 28th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised Prothena from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, November 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have issued a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $25.60.

Prothena Price Performance

NASDAQ PRTA opened at $9.35 on Monday. The business’s fifty day moving average is $9.91 and its 200-day moving average is $8.98. The stock has a market capitalization of $503.31 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -1.79, a PEG ratio of 1.98 and a beta of -0.09. Prothena has a one year low of $4.32 and a one year high of $16.67.

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

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.