Birchview Capital LP Increases Position in Prothena Co. plc (NASDAQ:PRTA)

Birchview Capital LP lifted its position in Prothena Co. plc (NASDAQ:PRTA) by 45.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 304,574 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after buying an additional 95,000 shares during the period. Prothena comprises 3.4% of Birchview Capital LP’s holdings, making the stock its 5th largest position. Birchview Capital LP’s holdings in Prothena were worth $4,218,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in PRTA. Virtus ETF Advisers LLC increased its holdings in shares of Prothena by 19.3% in the fourth quarter. Virtus ETF Advisers LLC now owns 5,148 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $71,000 after acquiring an additional 833 shares in the last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC grew its position 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 bought a new stake in Prothena during the 4th quarter worth approximately $145,000. Purkiss Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Prothena during the 4th quarter worth approximately $149,000. Finally, Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC bought a new position in Prothena in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $159,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.08% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Chardan Capital reissued a “buy” rating and set a $40.00 price objective on shares of Prothena in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Oppenheimer increased their target price on Prothena from $58.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on Prothena from $94.00 to $110.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating on shares of Prothena in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Finally, StockNews.com raised Prothena from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, February 24th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $55.00.

Prothena Stock Performance

NASDAQ:PRTA opened at $9.70 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $12.45 and its 200 day simple moving average is $14.19. Prothena Co. plc has a 52-week low of $9.00 and a 52-week high of $25.42. The company has a market cap of $522.12 million, a P/E ratio of -4.22 and a beta of 0.07.

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

Prothena 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.