Prothena (NASDAQ:PRTA) Major Shareholder Acquires $465,500.00 in Stock

Prothena Corporation plc (NASDAQ:PRTA) major shareholder William Scully bought 50,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 4th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $9.31 per share, for a total transaction of $465,500.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 936,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,714,160. This trade represents a 5.64% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Large shareholders that own 10% or more of a company’s stock are required to disclose their sales and purchases with the SEC.

Prothena Stock Down 6.1%

Shares of Prothena stock traded down $0.56 on Friday, reaching $8.69. The stock had a trading volume of 379,477 shares, compared to its average volume of 502,767. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $10.13 and a 200 day moving average price of $9.72. Prothena Corporation plc has a 1 year low of $4.95 and a 1 year high of $11.80. The stock has a market capitalization of $454.82 million, a P/E ratio of -3.08, a P/E/G ratio of 1.43 and a beta of -0.25.

Prothena (NASDAQ:PRTA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 7th. The biotechnology company reported $0.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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, analysts forecast that Prothena Corporation plc will post 0.18 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

PRTA has been the subject of several research reports. Citigroup restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Prothena in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Prothena from a “sell (d-)” rating to a “sell (e+)” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Stifel Nicolaus set a $19.00 price objective on shares of Prothena in a research note on Friday, March 13th. Citizens Jmp lifted their price objective on shares of Prothena from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price objective on shares of Prothena from $11.00 to $12.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 20th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have given a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $23.75.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Prothena

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Rubric Capital Management LP lifted its stake in shares of Prothena by 36.0% in the 1st quarter. Rubric Capital Management LP now owns 5,000,000 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $48,600,000 after purchasing an additional 1,322,669 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its position in Prothena by 151.7% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,267,802 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $21,658,000 after acquiring an additional 1,366,764 shares during the period. ADAR1 Capital Management LLC raised its position in Prothena by 8.5% during the first quarter. ADAR1 Capital Management LLC now owns 1,581,443 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $15,372,000 after acquiring an additional 123,679 shares during the period. Palo Alto Investors LP raised its position in Prothena by 3.9% during the third quarter. Palo Alto Investors LP now owns 1,324,028 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $12,923,000 after acquiring an additional 49,275 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Prothena by 4.3% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,063,069 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $10,154,000 after acquiring an additional 43,586 shares during the period. 97.08% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.