Prothena (NASDAQ:PRTA) Given New $62.00 Price Target at Oppenheimer

Prothena (NASDAQ:PRTA - Get Free Report) had its price target boosted by equities research analysts at Oppenheimer from $58.00 to $62.00 in a report released on Friday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an "outperform" rating on the biotechnology company's stock. Oppenheimer's price target would suggest a potential upside of 349.60% from the company's previous close.

A number of other research firms have also recently commented on PRTA. Bank of America reduced their price objective on Prothena from $26.00 to $22.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. StockNews.com lowered Prothena from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Chardan Capital assumed coverage on Prothena in a report on Friday, December 20th. They set a "buy" rating and a $40.00 price target for the company. Finally, HC Wainwright reissued a "buy" rating and set a $48.00 price target (down previously from $84.00) on shares of Prothena in a report on Friday, December 20th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $46.50.

Prothena Price Performance

Prothena stock traded down $0.28 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $13.79. 274,904 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 377,389. The stock has a market capitalization of $742.04 million, a PE ratio of -5.56 and a beta of 0.08. Prothena has a 12-month low of $11.70 and a 12-month high of $31.03. The business's 50-day moving average is $14.26 and its 200-day moving average is $17.24.

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Prothena

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Prothena by 11.5% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,403,838 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $19,443,000 after buying an additional 144,737 shares in the last quarter. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS purchased a new stake in shares of Prothena in the fourth quarter worth about $179,000. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its position in shares of Prothena by 66.1% in the fourth quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 30,399 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $421,000 after buying an additional 12,097 shares in the last quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas purchased a new stake in shares of Prothena in the fourth quarter worth about $145,000. Finally, Foundation Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Prothena in the fourth quarter worth about $270,000. Institutional investors 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.