Prothena (NASDAQ:PRTA) Reaches New 12-Month Low – Here’s What Happened

Prothena Co. plc (NASDAQ:PRTA)’s stock price hit a new 52-week low on Tuesday . The company traded as low as $11.70 and last traded at $12.16, with a volume of 40650 shares. The stock had previously closed at $12.38.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Chardan Capital reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $40.00 price objective on shares of Prothena in a research report on Friday, February 21st. StockNews.com raised Prothena from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, February 24th. HC Wainwright restated a “buy” rating and set a $48.00 price objective on shares of Prothena in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on shares of Prothena from $58.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada decreased their target price on shares of Prothena from $24.00 to $20.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $55.00.

Prothena Stock Down 4.1 %

The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $14.29 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $15.47. The stock has a market capitalization of $638.98 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -5.17 and a beta of -0.02.

Prothena (NASDAQ:PRTA) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The biotechnology company reported ($1.08) EPS 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.53 million. On average, analysts forecast that Prothena Co. plc will post -4.04 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in PRTA. Virtus ETF Advisers LLC lifted its position in shares of Prothena by 19.3% in the 4th 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 in the last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC increased its holdings in shares of Prothena by 196.5% in the 4th 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. Teacher Retirement System of Texas purchased a new stake in shares of Prothena in the fourth quarter worth approximately $145,000. Purkiss Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Prothena in the fourth quarter worth approximately $149,000. Finally, China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its position in Prothena by 10.3% during the fourth quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 11,409 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $158,000 after purchasing an additional 1,065 shares in the last quarter. 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.