Prothena (NASDAQ:PRTA) Shares Down 5.9% – Here’s What Happened

Prothena Corporation plc (NASDAQ:PRTA) fell 5.9% during trading on Monday . The company traded as low as $10.20 and last traded at $10.0960. 96,826 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 80% from the average session volume of 486,328 shares. The stock had previously closed at $10.73.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently commented on PRTA. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their target price on shares of Prothena from $11.00 to $12.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 20th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $19.00 target price on shares of Prothena in a research report on Friday, March 13th. Citizens Jmp increased their target price 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. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Prothena from a “sell (d-)” rating to a “sell (e+)” rating in a research report on Monday, April 27th. Finally, Citigroup reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Prothena in a research report on Friday, May 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have given a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $21.78.

Prothena Price Performance

The stock’s fifty day moving average is $10.00 and its 200-day moving average is $9.80. The stock has a market cap of $502.59 million, a PE ratio of -3.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.28 and a beta of -0.23.

Prothena (NASDAQ:PRTA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 7th. The biotechnology company reported $0.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.31) by $0.91. The firm had revenue of $51.08 million during 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, sell-side analysts expect that Prothena Corporation plc will post 0.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of PRTA. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. purchased a new position in Prothena during the first quarter worth about $230,000. Creative Planning boosted its stake in Prothena by 373.0% during the second quarter. Creative Planning now owns 50,569 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $307,000 after buying an additional 39,879 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its stake in Prothena by 72.1% during the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 59,965 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $364,000 after buying an additional 25,129 shares during the period. Russell Investments Group Ltd. boosted its stake in Prothena by 7,956.6% during the second quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 96,196 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $584,000 after buying an additional 95,002 shares during the period. Finally, Hsbc Holdings PLC boosted its stake in shares of Prothena by 251.8% in the second quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 46,047 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $282,000 after purchasing an additional 32,959 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.08% of the company’s stock.

About Prothena

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.