HC Wainwright Reaffirms “Buy” Rating for Prothena (NASDAQ:PRTA)

Prothena (NASDAQ:PRTA)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reiterated by investment analysts at HC Wainwright in a report issued on Friday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $48.00 price objective on the biotechnology company’s stock. HC Wainwright’s price objective would suggest a potential upside of 214.75% from the stock’s current price.

Several other equities analysts have also recently weighed in on the company. Chardan Capital reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $40.00 price objective on shares of Prothena in a report on Friday. Oppenheimer boosted their price target on Prothena from $58.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. StockNews.com cut Prothena from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, Bank of America lowered their target price on Prothena from $26.00 to $22.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, December 19th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $46.50.

Prothena Price Performance

PRTA opened at $15.25 on Friday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $14.28 and a 200 day simple moving average of $16.83. The company has a market capitalization of $820.60 million, a PE ratio of -6.15 and a beta of 0.08. Prothena has a 1 year low of $11.70 and a 1 year high of $31.03.

Prothena (NASDAQ:PRTA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The biotechnology company reported ($1.08) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($1.02) by ($0.06). Prothena had a negative net margin of 98.86% and a negative return on equity of 24.19%. Equities analysts anticipate that Prothena will post -2.24 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Prothena

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Virtus ETF Advisers LLC increased its position in shares of Prothena by 19.3% during the fourth quarter. Virtus ETF Advisers LLC now owns 5,148 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $71,000 after acquiring an additional 833 shares during the last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC grew its holdings in Prothena by 196.5% during the fourth quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC now owns 7,330 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $102,000 after purchasing an additional 4,858 shares during the period. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in Prothena by 63.7% during the third quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 10,344 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $173,000 after purchasing an additional 4,026 shares during the period. Teacher Retirement System of Texas bought a new position in Prothena during the fourth quarter valued at $145,000. Finally, Purkiss Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in Prothena during the fourth quarter valued at $149,000. 97.08% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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.