Chardan Capital Initiates Coverage on Prothena (NASDAQ:PRTA)

Equities researchers at Chardan Capital began coverage on shares of Prothena (NASDAQ:PRTA) in a research note issued to investors on Friday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. The firm set a “buy” rating and a $40.00 price target on the biotechnology company’s stock. Chardan Capital’s target price suggests a potential upside of 149.84% from the stock’s current price.

Several other research firms also recently issued reports on PRTA. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating on shares of Prothena in a report on Monday, September 30th. Bank of America lowered their price objective on shares of Prothena from $26.00 to $22.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Prothena from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, HC Wainwright reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $84.00 price target on shares of Prothena in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $52.29.

Prothena Stock Up 34.0 %

Shares of PRTA opened at $16.01 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $15.74 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $19.17. The company has a market capitalization of $861.48 million, a PE ratio of -6.46 and a beta of 0.09. Prothena has a 52-week low of $11.70 and a 52-week high of $41.54.

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

Institutional Trading of Prothena

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. DCF Advisers LLC raised its stake in Prothena by 0.5% during the 2nd quarter. DCF Advisers LLC now owns 107,500 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $2,219,000 after acquiring an additional 500 shares in the last quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC boosted its position in shares of Prothena by 4.4% in the 3rd quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC now owns 17,531 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $293,000 after purchasing an additional 739 shares during the period. Signaturefd LLC grew its stake in Prothena by 182.1% during the 2nd quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 1,337 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 863 shares during the last quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank lifted 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. Finally, Pinnacle Associates Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Prothena by 2.3% in the third quarter. Pinnacle Associates Ltd. now owns 125,747 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $2,104,000 after acquiring an additional 2,847 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other 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.