Prothena (NASDAQ:PRTA) Shares Down 9.6% - What's Next?

Prothena Co. plc (NASDAQ:PRTA - Get Free Report)'s share price fell 9.6% during trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as low as $9.55 and last traded at $9.48. 92,176 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 81% from the average session volume of 492,255 shares. The stock had previously closed at $10.48.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the company. HC Wainwright reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $48.00 price target on shares of Prothena in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an "overweight" rating on shares of Prothena in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Oppenheimer increased their price target on shares of Prothena from $58.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price objective on shares of Prothena from $24.00 to $20.00 and set a "sector perform" rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 21st. Finally, Bank of America reduced their target price 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 analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $55.00.

Prothena Stock Down 2.7 %

The firm has a market cap of $535.04 million, a P/E ratio of -4.32 and a beta of 0.07. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $13.37 and a 200-day simple moving average of $14.69.

Prothena (NASDAQ:PRTA - Get Free Report) last posted 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). Prothena had a negative return on equity of 22.67% and a negative net margin of 90.50%. The business had revenue of $2.12 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.53 million. As a group, research analysts forecast that Prothena Co. plc will post -4.04 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Prothena

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in PRTA. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in Prothena by 48.5% in the first quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 77,637 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $961,000 after buying an additional 25,353 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in Prothena by 4,626.0% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 6,002 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $74,000 after purchasing an additional 5,875 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its holdings in Prothena by 22.8% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 5,130,876 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $71,063,000 after acquiring an additional 952,088 shares in the last quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP raised its holdings in shares of Prothena by 265.4% in the 4th quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP now owns 38,394 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $532,000 after purchasing an additional 27,887 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Rafferty Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in Prothena by 24.8% during the 4th quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC now owns 77,672 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $1,076,000 after buying an additional 15,442 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.