Prothena (NASDAQ:PRTA) Major Shareholder William Scully Acquires 100,000 Shares of Company Stock

Prothena Corporation plc (NASDAQ:PRTA) major shareholder William Scully acquired 100,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 13th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $8.35 per share, for a total transaction of $835,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 1,027,000 shares in the company, valued at $8,575,450. The trade was a 10.79% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Major shareholders that own more than 10% of a company’s shares are required to disclose their sales and purchases with the SEC.

Prothena Stock Up 1.6%

PRTA stock opened at $8.50 on Friday. Prothena Corporation plc has a twelve month low of $7.73 and a twelve month high of $11.80. The firm has a market cap of $445.00 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -10.12, a PEG ratio of 2.95 and a beta of -0.29. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $8.89 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $9.31.

Prothena (NASDAQ:PRTA) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.32) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.39) by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $1.01 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $0.42 million. Prothena had a negative net margin of 80.68% and a negative return on equity of 16.45%. Research analysts expect that Prothena Corporation plc will post 0.08 EPS for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Prothena

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Versant Capital Management Inc increased its stake in shares of Prothena by 179.1% during the third quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 5,704 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $48,000 after buying an additional 3,660 shares during the period. CHICAGO TRUST Co NA bought a new stake in shares of Prothena in the first quarter valued at about $146,000. Headlands Technologies LLC purchased a new stake in Prothena in the second quarter worth about $148,000. Sei Investments Co. purchased a new stake in Prothena in the first quarter worth about $168,000. Finally, Great Lakes Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Prothena in the second quarter worth about $281,000. Institutional investors own 97.08% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. UBS Group reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Prothena in a research report on Friday, July 24th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Prothena from a “sell (e+)” rating to a “sell (d-)” rating in a research note on Wednesday. HC Wainwright reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $30.00 target price on shares of Prothena in a research report on Friday, July 24th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Prothena from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, July 25th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Prothena currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $24.57.

About Prothena

Prothena Corporation plc is a clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on discovering and developing therapies for diseases caused by protein misfolding or abnormal protein accumulation. Its research programs target neurological and systemic disorders, including Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, and transthyretin amyloidosis.

The company’s pipeline has included PRX012, an investigational next-generation antibody targeting amyloid beta for Alzheimer’s disease; prasinezumab, an anti-alpha-synuclein antibody being developed for Parkinson’s disease through a collaboration with Roche; and birtamimab, an investigational treatment designed to target misfolded light chains associated with AL amyloidosis.