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

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

Several other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on the stock. HC Wainwright reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $84.00 price objective on shares of Prothena in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price target on Prothena from $28.00 to $24.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, August 9th. Oppenheimer dropped their price objective on Prothena from $66.00 to $62.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, August 14th. Bank of America decreased their target price on Prothena from $33.00 to $31.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating on shares of Prothena in a research note on Monday, September 30th. 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.com, Prothena presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $61.86.

Prothena Stock Up 2.5 %

Shares of NASDAQ:PRTA opened at $14.40 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $774.86 million, a P/E ratio of -5.81 and a beta of 0.16. Prothena has a 12-month low of $13.22 and a 12-month high of $41.54. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $17.79 and a 200 day simple moving average of $20.16.

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Prothena

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of PRTA. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position 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 valued at $69,911,000 after purchasing an additional 539,359 shares during the period. Artal Group S.A. grew its holdings in shares of Prothena by 99.7% during the first quarter. Artal Group S.A. now owns 1,001,360 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $24,804,000 after buying an additional 500,000 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its position in shares of Prothena by 1,122.9% during 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 worth $8,812,000 after acquiring an additional 483,673 shares in the last quarter. Armistice Capital LLC increased its position in shares of Prothena by 42.3% during 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Prothena by 5.1% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,125,283 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $27,873,000 after acquiring an additional 54,728 shares during the last quarter. 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.