Prothena (NASDAQ:PRTA) Cut to “Sell” at StockNews.com

Prothena (NASDAQ:PRTA) was downgraded by StockNews.com from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report issued on Tuesday.

A number of other research firms also recently weighed in on PRTA. HC Wainwright restated a “buy” rating and issued a $84.00 target price on shares of Prothena in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating on shares of Prothena in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Bank of America decreased their target price on shares of Prothena from $33.00 to $31.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price target on shares of Prothena from $28.00 to $24.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 9th. Finally, Oppenheimer decreased their price objective on Prothena from $66.00 to $62.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, August 14th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Prothena presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $61.86.

Prothena Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:PRTA traded up $0.54 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $14.05. 550,998 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 582,869. The company has a market cap of $756.03 million, a PE ratio of -5.67 and a beta of 0.16. Prothena has a 52-week low of $13.22 and a 52-week high of $41.54. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $17.92 and a 200 day moving average of $20.20.

Prothena (NASDAQ:PRTA) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, November 12th. The biotechnology company reported ($1.10) EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($1.18) by $0.08. The business had revenue of $0.97 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.22 million. Prothena had a negative return on equity of 24.19% and a negative net margin of 98.86%. The firm’s revenue was down 98.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.38 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Prothena will post -2.29 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in Prothena by 14.8% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 4,178,788 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $69,911,000 after buying an additional 539,359 shares during the period. Armistice Capital LLC lifted its stake in Prothena by 42.3% in the second quarter. Armistice Capital LLC now owns 1,560,000 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $32,198,000 after acquiring an additional 464,000 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Prothena by 5.1% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,125,283 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $27,873,000 after acquiring an additional 54,728 shares in the last quarter. Artal Group S.A. increased its position in Prothena by 99.7% during the 1st quarter. Artal Group S.A. now owns 1,001,360 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $24,804,000 after purchasing an additional 500,000 shares during the period. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its holdings in Prothena by 1,122.9% in the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 526,748 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $8,812,000 after purchasing an additional 483,673 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.08% of the company’s stock.

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.