Prothena (NASDAQ:PRTA) Major Shareholder William Scully Acquires 50,000 Shares

Prothena Corporation plc (NASDAQ:PRTA) major shareholder William Scully bought 50,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 2nd. The shares were purchased at an average price of $9.43 per share, for a total transaction of $471,500.00. Following the purchase, the insider owned 886,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,354,980. This trade represents a 5.98% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Large shareholders that own 10% or more of a company’s shares are required to disclose their sales and purchases with the SEC.

Prothena Price Performance

PRTA opened at $8.92 on Thursday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $10.12 and a 200 day simple moving average of $9.72. Prothena Corporation plc has a 1 year low of $4.66 and a 1 year high of $11.80. The company has a market capitalization of $466.96 million, a PE ratio of -3.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.47 and a beta of -0.25.

Prothena (NASDAQ:PRTA) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 7th. The biotechnology company reported $0.60 earnings per share 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 analysts’ expectations of $0.81 million. Prothena had a negative return on equity of 43.44% and a negative net margin of 260.92%. Equities analysts anticipate that Prothena Corporation plc will post 0.18 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have issued reports on PRTA shares. Stifel Nicolaus set a $19.00 target price on shares of Prothena in a research report on Friday, March 13th. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price target on Prothena from $11.00 to $12.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 20th. Weiss Ratings downgraded Prothena from a “sell (d-)” rating to a “sell (e+)” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Citigroup reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Prothena in a report on Friday, May 8th. Finally, Citizens Jmp upped their target price on Prothena from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, May 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have issued a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Prothena presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $23.75.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. ProShare Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Prothena in the 4th quarter valued at $100,000. PDT Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Prothena in the fourth quarter valued at about $108,000. DRW Securities LLC bought a new position in Prothena in the fourth quarter valued at about $114,000. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd bought a new position in Prothena in the third quarter valued at about $119,000. Finally, Brooklyn Investment Group raised its stake in 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 acquiring an additional 1,456 shares in the last quarter. 97.08% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.