Short Interest in Prothena Co. plc (NASDAQ:PRTA) Increases By 28.1%

Prothena Co. plc (NASDAQ:PRTA) saw a large growth in short interest during the month of October. As of October 15th, there was short interest totalling 6,790,000 shares, a growth of 28.1% from the September 30th total of 5,300,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 442,400 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 15.3 days.

Prothena Stock Down 1.1 %

Shares of Prothena stock traded down $0.20 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $18.08. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 481,328 shares, compared to its average volume of 589,422. Prothena has a 52 week low of $15.30 and a 52 week high of $41.54. The firm has a market cap of $972.34 million, a PE ratio of -18.08 and a beta of 0.17. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $19.34 and its 200-day moving average price is $20.69.

Prothena (NASDAQ:PRTA) last released its earnings results on Thursday, August 8th. The biotechnology company reported $1.22 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($1.01) by $2.23. The firm had revenue of $132.01 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.73 million. Prothena had a negative net margin of 23.44% and a negative return on equity of 9.00%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 3184.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned ($1.03) EPS. Equities analysts predict that Prothena will post -2.34 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently commented on PRTA. Oppenheimer dropped their price objective on Prothena from $66.00 to $62.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, August 14th. StockNews.com raised Prothena from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, August 12th. HC Wainwright reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $84.00 price objective on shares of Prothena in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. Bank of America lowered their target price on Prothena from $33.00 to $31.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating on shares of Prothena in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $61.86.

Institutional Trading of Prothena

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Prothena by 265.9% in the fourth quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 1,544 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $56,000 after acquiring an additional 1,122 shares during the last quarter. Susquehanna Fundamental Investments LLC acquired a new stake in Prothena in the first quarter valued at approximately $342,000. Headlands Technologies LLC bought a new stake in shares of Prothena during the first quarter worth $96,000. ProShare Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Prothena by 8.9% during the first quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 11,346 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $281,000 after buying an additional 932 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Focused Wealth Management Inc lifted its stake in shares of Prothena by 7,751.9% in the 1st quarter. Focused Wealth Management Inc now owns 10,129 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $251,000 after acquiring an additional 10,000 shares during the last quarter. 97.08% of the stock is 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.