Rubric Capital Management LP Buys 1,322,669 Shares of Prothena Corporation plc $PRTA

Rubric Capital Management LP raised its stake in shares of Prothena Corporation plc (NASDAQ:PRTA) by 36.0% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,000,000 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after buying an additional 1,322,669 shares during the quarter. Rubric Capital Management LP owned about 0.10% of Prothena worth $48,600,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. State Street Corp raised its position in shares of Prothena by 151.7% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,267,802 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $21,658,000 after acquiring an additional 1,366,764 shares during the period. Rangeley Capital LLC acquired a new position in Prothena during the second quarter valued at approximately $4,342,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership acquired a new position in Prothena during the third quarter valued at approximately $6,386,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in Prothena by 479.6% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 735,765 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $7,181,000 after purchasing an additional 608,814 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its stake in Prothena by 164.8% in the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 935,333 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $8,932,000 after purchasing an additional 582,112 shares in the last quarter. 97.08% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Citigroup reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Prothena in a report on Friday, May 8th. UBS Group reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Prothena in a report on Friday. Citizens Jmp upped their price objective on shares of Prothena from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Prothena from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday. Finally, Weiss Ratings lowered Prothena from a “sell (d-)” rating to a “sell (e+)” rating in a report on Thursday, July 9th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have issued a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $23.75.

Prothena Stock Performance

NASDAQ PRTA opened at $8.70 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $455.44 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -3.09, a PEG ratio of 1.40 and a beta of -0.31. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $9.13 and a 200 day simple moving average of $9.45. Prothena Corporation plc has a 52-week low of $6.61 and a 52-week high of $11.80.

Prothena (NASDAQ:PRTA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The biotechnology company reported $0.60 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.31) by $0.91. The firm had revenue of $51.08 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $0.81 million. Prothena had a negative net margin of 260.92% and a negative return on equity of 43.44%. On average, analysts predict that Prothena Corporation plc will post 0.18 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Prothena

In related news, major shareholder William P. Scully acquired 20,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 16th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $7.90 per share, for a total transaction of $158,000.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the insider directly owned 756,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,972,400. The trade was a 2.72% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders have acquired 345,000 shares of company stock worth $3,097,250 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 10.40% of the company’s stock.

Prothena Company Profile

Prothena Corporation plc is a clinical-stage biotechnology company dedicated to the discovery and development of novel therapies for neurodegenerative and rare diseases driven by misfolded proteins. The company’s research focuses on immunotherapies and small molecules designed to target and clear disease-causing protein aggregates. Prothena leverages proprietary protein engineering and antibody discovery platforms to advance candidates through preclinical and clinical stages.

The company’s most advanced program is an antibody targeting aggregated alpha-synuclein for the potential treatment of Parkinson’s disease, currently in mid-stage clinical trials.