Prothena (NASDAQ:PRTA) Reaches New 52-Week Low - Should You Sell?

Prothena Co. plc (NASDAQ:PRTA - Get Free Report)'s share price hit a new 52-week low on Thursday . The stock traded as low as $11.70 and last traded at $11.95, with a volume of 856864 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $14.04.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. StockNews.com cut shares of Prothena from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Bank of America dropped 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. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an "overweight" rating on shares of Prothena in a report on Monday, September 30th. Finally, HC Wainwright restated a "buy" rating and issued a $84.00 price target on shares of Prothena in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $60.33.

Prothena Stock Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $861.48 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -6.46 and a beta of 0.09. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $15.74 and a 200 day simple moving average of $19.17.

Prothena (NASDAQ:PRTA - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 12th. The biotechnology company reported ($1.10) EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($1.18) by $0.08. The business had revenue of $0.97 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.22 million. Prothena had a negative net margin of 98.86% and a negative return on equity of 24.19%. Prothena's revenue was down 98.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.38 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Prothena Co. plc will post -2.24 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Prothena

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Barclays PLC boosted its position in shares of Prothena by 110.2% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 95,222 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $1,592,000 after acquiring an additional 49,916 shares in the last quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC boosted its holdings 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 in the last quarter. XTX Topco Ltd bought a new position in shares of Prothena in the 3rd quarter valued at $260,000. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its holdings in shares of Prothena by 14.8% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 4,178,788 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $69,911,000 after buying an additional 539,359 shares in the last quarter. Finally, PDT Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Prothena by 7.7% during the 3rd quarter. PDT Partners LLC now owns 110,654 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $1,851,000 after buying an additional 7,946 shares during the last quarter. 97.08% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.