Prothena (NASDAQ:PRTA) Trading Up 6.5% – What’s Next?

Prothena Co. plc (NASDAQ:PRTA) traded up 6.5% during trading on Friday . The stock traded as high as $16.02 and last traded at $16.11. 134,573 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 64% from the average session volume of 369,681 shares. The stock had previously closed at $15.13.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have commented on the company. Oppenheimer boosted their target price on Prothena from $58.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Bank of America reduced their price target on Prothena from $26.00 to $22.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 19th. StockNews.com upgraded Prothena from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, February 24th. Chardan Capital restated a “buy” rating and set a $40.00 price target on shares of Prothena in a report on Friday, February 21st. Finally, HC Wainwright restated a “buy” rating and set a $48.00 price target on shares of Prothena in a report on Friday, February 21st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Prothena currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $55.00.

Prothena Price Performance

The company has a fifty day moving average of $14.44 and a 200 day moving average of $16.61. The firm has a market capitalization of $850.72 million, a P/E ratio of -6.87 and a beta of 0.08.

Prothena (NASDAQ:PRTA) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The biotechnology company reported ($1.08) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($1.02) by ($0.06). Prothena had a negative net margin of 90.50% and a negative return on equity of 22.67%. The company had revenue of $2.12 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.53 million. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Prothena Co. plc will post -4.04 EPS for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Prothena

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in PRTA. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in Prothena by 22.8% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 5,130,876 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $71,063,000 after buying an additional 952,088 shares during the period. Boxer Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Prothena in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $9,556,000. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its stake in Prothena by 1,122.9% in the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 526,748 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $8,812,000 after buying an additional 483,673 shares during the period. Federated Hermes Inc. lifted its stake in Prothena by 84.3% in the fourth quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 746,177 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $10,335,000 after buying an additional 341,274 shares during the period. Finally, Finepoint Capital LP lifted its stake in Prothena by 51.6% in the fourth quarter. Finepoint Capital LP now owns 657,071 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $9,100,000 after buying an additional 223,600 shares during the period. 97.08% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Prothena

Prothena Corporation plc, a late-stage clinical biotechnology company, focuses on discovery and development of novel therapies to treat diseases caused by protein dysregulation in the United States. The company is involved in developing birtamimab, an investigational humanized antibody that is in Phase III clinical trial for the treatment of AL amyloidosis; Prasinezumab, a humanized monoclonal antibody, for the treatment of Parkinson’s disease and other related synucleinopathies which is in Phase IIb clinical trial; NNC6019 that is in Phase lI clinical trial for the treatment of ATTR amyloidosis; and BMS-986446 and PRX012, which is in Phase I clinical trial for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease.