Prothena (NASDAQ:PRTA) Stock Price Up 7.8% – Should You Buy?

Prothena Co. plc (NASDAQ:PRTA) shares rose 7.8% during trading on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $13.67 and last traded at $13.59. Approximately 373,840 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 35% from the average daily volume of 573,232 shares. The stock had previously closed at $12.61.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on PRTA. StockNews.com lowered Prothena from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Bank of America lowered their target price on shares of Prothena from $26.00 to $22.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating on shares of Prothena in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Finally, HC Wainwright reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $84.00 price objective on shares of Prothena in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Prothena has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $60.33.

Prothena Stock Performance

The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $15.74 and its 200 day moving average price is $19.17. The firm has a market cap of $861.48 million, a P/E ratio of -6.46 and a beta of 0.09.

Prothena (NASDAQ:PRTA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 12th. The biotechnology company reported ($1.10) EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.18) by $0.08. The company had revenue of $0.97 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.22 million. Prothena had a negative net margin of 98.86% and a negative return on equity of 24.19%. Prothena’s revenue for the quarter was down 98.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.38 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Prothena Co. plc will post -2.24 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Prothena

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its position in shares of Prothena by 13.4% during the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 165,423 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $3,414,000 after purchasing an additional 19,578 shares in the last quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank raised its stake in Prothena by 13.1% in the second quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 10,236 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $211,000 after buying an additional 1,186 shares during the last quarter. Signaturefd LLC boosted its holdings in Prothena by 182.1% in the second quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 1,337 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 863 shares in the last quarter. Focused Wealth Management Inc grew its stake in shares of Prothena by 98.7% during the second quarter. Focused Wealth Management Inc now owns 20,129 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $415,000 after acquiring an additional 10,000 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Rhumbline Advisers increased its holdings in shares of Prothena by 9.9% during the second quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 69,756 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $1,440,000 after acquiring an additional 6,256 shares in the last quarter. 97.08% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Prothena Company Profile

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.