Prothena (NASDAQ:PRTA) Stock Price Up 7.7% – Still a Buy?

Prothena Co. plc (NASDAQ:PRTA)’s stock price shot up 7.7% during mid-day trading on Monday . The stock traded as high as $9.97 and last traded at $9.91. 124,881 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 75% from the average session volume of 493,136 shares. The stock had previously closed at $9.20.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on PRTA shares. 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. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating on shares of Prothena in a report on Friday, February 21st. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on shares of Prothena from $94.00 to $110.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Royal Bank of Canada cut their target price 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. Finally, Oppenheimer lifted their price target on Prothena from $58.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $55.00.

Prothena Stock Performance

The stock has a 50 day moving average of $12.89 and a two-hundred day moving average of $14.41. The stock has a market cap of $511.36 million, a PE ratio of -4.13 and a beta of 0.07.

Prothena (NASDAQ:PRTA) last issued 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). 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%. Analysts expect that Prothena Co. plc will post -4.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of PRTA. Virtus ETF Advisers LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Prothena by 19.3% during the 4th quarter. Virtus ETF Advisers LLC now owns 5,148 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $71,000 after buying an additional 833 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in Prothena by 4,626.0% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 6,002 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $74,000 after acquiring an additional 5,875 shares during the last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC grew its position in Prothena by 196.5% in the fourth quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC now owns 7,330 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $102,000 after acquiring an additional 4,858 shares in the last quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas acquired a new position in shares of Prothena during the 4th quarter worth $145,000. Finally, Purkiss Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Prothena during the 4th quarter valued at $149,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.08% of the company’s stock.

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.