Analysts Set Prothena Corporation plc (NASDAQ:PRTA) Price Target at $23.75

Shares of Prothena Corporation plc (NASDAQ:PRTA) have been given a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the seven analysts that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12-month target price among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $23.75.

PRTA has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Citizens Jmp increased their price target on Prothena from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Prothena from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, June 6th. Citigroup restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Prothena in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $19.00 price objective on shares of Prothena in a research report on Friday, March 13th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Prothena from a “sell (e+)” rating to a “sell (d-)” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 23rd.

Prothena Stock Up 1.9%

NASDAQ PRTA opened at $9.68 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $9.58 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $9.50. Prothena has a 12-month low of $6.16 and a 12-month high of $11.80. The company has a market capitalization of $506.75 million, a P/E ratio of -3.43, a P/E/G ratio of 1.52 and a beta of -0.31.

Prothena (NASDAQ:PRTA) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The biotechnology company reported $0.60 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.31) by $0.91. The company 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 analysts expect that Prothena will post 0.18 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Prothena

In other news, major shareholder William P. Scully acquired 125,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 11th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $8.17 per share, with a total value of $1,021,250.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the insider directly owned 1,061,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,668,370. The trade was a 13.35% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Insiders have purchased 345,000 shares of company stock valued at $3,097,250 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 10.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Prothena

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of PRTA. 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 acquired a new stake in Prothena in the fourth quarter valued at about $114,000. Brooklyn Investment Group grew its position 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 acquiring an additional 1,456 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Tower Research Capital LLC TRC raised its stake in Prothena by 571.0% during the second quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 12,709 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $77,000 after acquiring an additional 10,815 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.