Prothena (NASDAQ:PRTA) Stock Price Up 6% - Time to Buy?

Shares of Prothena Co. plc (NASDAQ:PRTA - Get Free Report) shot up 6% during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $14.73 and last traded at $14.75. 139,591 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 60% from the average session volume of 352,595 shares. The stock had previously closed at $13.91.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently issued reports on PRTA. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an "overweight" rating on shares of Prothena in a report on Friday. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price objective on shares of Prothena from $24.00 to $20.00 and set a "sector perform" rating on the stock in a report on Friday. Bank of America cut their price objective on shares of Prothena from $26.00 to $22.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on shares of Prothena from $58.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Chardan Capital reissued a "buy" rating and set a $40.00 price objective on shares of Prothena in a report on Friday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Prothena has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $45.83.

Prothena Price Performance

The company's fifty day simple moving average is $14.33 and its 200-day simple moving average is $16.76. The firm has a market capitalization of $837.27 million, a PE ratio of -6.77 and a beta of 0.08.

Prothena (NASDAQ:PRTA - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 20th. The biotechnology company reported ($1.08) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 company had revenue of $2.12 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.53 million. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Prothena Co. plc will post -4.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Prothena

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Barclays PLC lifted its stake in shares of Prothena by 110.2% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 95,222 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $1,592,000 after buying an additional 49,916 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its position in Prothena by 167.0% during the fourth quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 37,612 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $521,000 after purchasing an additional 23,525 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its position in Prothena by 1,122.9% during the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 526,748 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $8,812,000 after purchasing an additional 483,673 shares during the period. Duncan Williams Asset Management LLC lifted its position in Prothena by 41.9% during the fourth quarter. Duncan Williams Asset Management LLC now owns 69,199 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $958,000 after purchasing an additional 20,450 shares during the period. Finally, Focused Wealth Management Inc acquired a new position in Prothena during the fourth quarter valued at $445,000. 97.08% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.