Prothena's (PRTA) Buy Rating Reiterated at HC Wainwright

Prothena (NASDAQ:PRTA - Get Free Report)'s stock had its "buy" rating reaffirmed by equities research analysts at HC Wainwright in a report issued on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $84.00 price target on the biotechnology company's stock. HC Wainwright's price target would indicate a potential upside of 387.52% from the company's current price.

A number of other equities analysts also recently weighed in on PRTA. Bank of America dropped their target price on Prothena from $33.00 to $31.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price objective on Prothena from $28.00 to $24.00 and set a "sector perform" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 9th. Oppenheimer dropped their price objective on shares of Prothena from $66.00 to $62.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, August 14th. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an "overweight" rating on shares of Prothena in a research report on Monday, September 30th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Prothena from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, August 12th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Prothena has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $61.86.

Prothena Stock Performance

PRTA stock traded down $0.13 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $17.23. 387,303 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 582,281. Prothena has a fifty-two week low of $15.30 and a fifty-two week high of $41.54. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $18.48 and its 200-day moving average price is $20.44.

Prothena (NASDAQ:PRTA - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, November 12th. The biotechnology company reported ($1.10) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 24.03%. The business had revenue of $0.97 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.22 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.38 earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was down 98.9% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Prothena will post -2.34 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Prothena

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in PRTA. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Prothena by 5.1% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,125,283 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $27,873,000 after buying an additional 54,728 shares in the last quarter. Armistice Capital LLC raised its position in shares of Prothena by 42.3% during the 2nd quarter. Armistice Capital LLC now owns 1,560,000 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $32,198,000 after buying an additional 464,000 shares in the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC raised its position in shares of Prothena by 226.4% during the 2nd quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 54,572 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $1,126,000 after buying an additional 37,852 shares in the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Prothena during the 2nd quarter valued at about $905,000. Finally, Duncan Williams Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Prothena during the 3rd quarter valued at about $816,000. 97.08% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other 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.