Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA Makes New $621,000 Investment in Prothena Co. plc (NASDAQ:PRTA)

Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA purchased a new stake in Prothena Co. plc (NASDAQ:PRTA - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 44,815 shares of the biotechnology company's stock, valued at approximately $621,000. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA owned approximately 0.08% of Prothena as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in PRTA. Headlands Technologies LLC boosted its position in Prothena by 196.5% during the fourth quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC now owns 7,330 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $102,000 after purchasing an additional 4,858 shares during the period. Teacher Retirement System of Texas bought a new stake in shares of Prothena during the 4th quarter valued at $145,000. Purkiss Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Prothena during the 4th quarter worth $149,000. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its position in shares of Prothena by 10.3% in the fourth quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 11,409 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $158,000 after purchasing an additional 1,065 shares during the period. Finally, Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC acquired a new position in Prothena in the fourth quarter valued at about $159,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.08% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have commented on the stock. HC Wainwright reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $48.00 target price on shares of Prothena in a report on Friday, February 21st. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an "overweight" rating on shares of Prothena in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their target price on Prothena from $24.00 to $20.00 and set a "sector perform" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 21st. Oppenheimer lifted their price target on Prothena from $58.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Bank of America reduced their price objective on Prothena from $26.00 to $22.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $55.00.

Prothena Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:PRTA traded down $0.32 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $9.62. 110,249 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 494,290. The business's 50-day moving average price is $13.27 and its 200 day moving average price is $14.62. Prothena Co. plc has a 12 month low of $9.30 and a 12 month high of $25.42. The stock has a market capitalization of $517.60 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -4.17 and a beta of 0.07.

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

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.