Handelsbanken Fonder AB Acquires 5,500 Shares of Prothena Co. plc (NASDAQ:PRTA)

Handelsbanken Fonder AB increased its stake in shares of Prothena Co. plc (NASDAQ:PRTA) by 35.7% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 20,900 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after buying an additional 5,500 shares during the quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB’s holdings in Prothena were worth $289,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Creative Planning acquired a new position in Prothena during the 3rd quarter worth about $350,000. GSA Capital Partners LLP acquired a new position in Prothena during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $484,000. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. grew its position in Prothena by 8.6% in the 3rd quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 122,492 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $2,049,000 after purchasing an additional 9,666 shares during the period. Intech Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Prothena in the 3rd quarter worth about $210,000. Finally, Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Prothena during the third quarter valued at approximately $432,000. Institutional investors own 97.08% of the company’s stock.

Prothena Price Performance

PRTA opened at $14.33 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $771.08 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -6.23 and a beta of 0.08. Prothena Co. plc has a 1 year low of $11.70 and a 1 year high of $30.85. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $14.44 and its 200 day simple moving average is $16.58.

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Piper Sandler raised their price target on shares of Prothena from $94.00 to $110.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Oppenheimer increased their price target on Prothena from $58.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating on shares of Prothena in a research note on Friday, February 21st. StockNews.com raised shares of Prothena from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, February 24th. Finally, Chardan Capital restated a “buy” rating and issued a $40.00 price objective on shares of Prothena in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Prothena has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $55.00.

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.