StockNews.com Upgrades Prothena (NASDAQ:PRTA) to Hold

Prothena (NASDAQ:PRTA) was upgraded by equities research analysts at StockNews.com from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Monday.

A number of other research firms also recently commented on PRTA. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on shares of Prothena from $58.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price target on Prothena from $24.00 to $20.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Bank of America cut their price objective on Prothena from $26.00 to $22.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating on shares of Prothena in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Finally, HC Wainwright restated a “buy” rating and set a $48.00 price objective on shares of Prothena in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $45.83.

Prothena Price Performance

Shares of Prothena stock opened at $14.63 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $787.23 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -6.36 and a beta of 0.08. Prothena has a one year low of $11.70 and a one year high of $31.03. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $14.40 and its 200-day moving average is $16.68.

Prothena (NASDAQ:PRTA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The biotechnology company reported ($1.08) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.02) by ($0.06). Prothena had a negative return on equity of 22.67% and a negative net margin of 90.50%. The firm had revenue of $2.12 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.53 million. On average, equities analysts expect that Prothena will post -4.04 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Prothena

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in PRTA. Creative Planning bought a new stake in shares of Prothena in the third quarter valued at about $350,000. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Prothena by 63.7% in the third quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 10,344 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $173,000 after buying an additional 4,026 shares during the period. Pinnacle Associates Ltd. increased its stake in Prothena by 2.3% during the 3rd quarter. Pinnacle Associates Ltd. now owns 125,747 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $2,104,000 after acquiring an additional 2,847 shares during the period. GSA Capital Partners LLP bought a new stake in shares of Prothena during the 3rd quarter valued at $484,000. Finally, Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Prothena by 8.6% during the 3rd quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 122,492 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $2,049,000 after purchasing an additional 9,666 shares in the last quarter. 97.08% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.