Prothena (NASDAQ:PRTA) Major Shareholder Purchases $158,000.00 in Stock

Prothena Corporation plc (NASDAQ:PRTA) major shareholder William Scully purchased 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 16th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $7.90 per share, for a total transaction of $158,000.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the insider directly owned 756,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,972,400. This represents a 2.72% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Major shareholders that own at least 10% of a company’s stock are required to disclose their sales and purchases with the SEC.

Prothena Trading Up 4.6%

Shares of NASDAQ:PRTA traded up $0.39 during trading on Thursday, reaching $8.88. The stock had a trading volume of 282,900 shares, compared to its average volume of 502,874. Prothena Corporation plc has a one year low of $5.64 and a one year high of $11.80. The company has a market capitalization of $464.87 million, a P/E ratio of -3.12, a PEG ratio of 1.33 and a beta of -0.25. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $9.89 and its 200 day simple moving average is $9.59.

Prothena (NASDAQ:PRTA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The biotechnology company reported $0.60 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.31) by $0.91. The business had revenue of $51.08 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $0.81 million. Prothena had a negative net margin of 260.92% and a negative return on equity of 43.44%. Equities research analysts forecast that Prothena Corporation plc will post 0.18 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

PRTA has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Citigroup reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Prothena in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their target price on shares of Prothena from $11.00 to $12.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 20th. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Prothena from a “sell (d-)” rating to a “sell (e+)” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 2nd. Stifel Nicolaus set a $19.00 target price on shares of Prothena in a research note on Friday, March 13th. Finally, 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. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have issued a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Prothena presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $23.75.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Prothena

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of PRTA. ProShare Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Prothena in the fourth quarter valued at about $100,000. PDT Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Prothena in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $108,000. DRW Securities LLC purchased a new position in Prothena in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $114,000. Brooklyn Investment Group increased its stake in Prothena by 13.1% in the third quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 12,569 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $123,000 after purchasing an additional 1,456 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Tower Research Capital LLC TRC increased its stake in Prothena by 571.0% in the second quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 12,709 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $77,000 after purchasing an additional 10,815 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.08% of the company’s stock.

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.