Prothena (NASDAQ:PRTA) Rating Reiterated by HC Wainwright

Prothena (NASDAQ:PRTA)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reaffirmed by equities research analysts at HC Wainwright in a report issued on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $84.00 price objective on the biotechnology company’s stock. HC Wainwright’s price target points to a potential upside of 403.60% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other research firms have also issued reports on PRTA. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price target on Prothena from $28.00 to $24.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, August 9th. Bank of America dropped their price objective on Prothena from $33.00 to $31.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday. StockNews.com raised Prothena from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, August 12th. Oppenheimer dropped their price objective on Prothena from $66.00 to $62.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, August 14th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating on shares of Prothena in a research note on Monday. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Prothena has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $61.86.

Prothena Stock Performance

NASDAQ:PRTA opened at $16.68 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $21.21 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $21.76. Prothena has a 52-week low of $15.52 and a 52-week high of $55.89. The firm has a market capitalization of $897.05 million, a PE ratio of -5.13 and a beta of 0.18.

Prothena (NASDAQ:PRTA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 8th. The biotechnology company reported $1.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($1.01) by $2.23. Prothena had a negative return on equity of 9.00% and a negative net margin of 23.44%. The business had revenue of $132.01 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.73 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted ($1.03) earnings per share. Prothena’s revenue for the quarter was up 3184.7% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that Prothena will post -2.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Prothena

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in PRTA. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its holdings in shares of Prothena by 10.9% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 4,237,351 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $153,986,000 after buying an additional 417,338 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position in Prothena by 21.1% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 2,594,102 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $94,270,000 after acquiring an additional 452,455 shares in the last quarter. Armistice Capital LLC increased its stake in Prothena by 42.3% during the second quarter. Armistice Capital LLC now owns 1,560,000 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $32,198,000 after acquiring an additional 464,000 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Prothena by 5.1% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,125,283 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $27,873,000 after purchasing an additional 54,728 shares during the period. Finally, Artal Group S.A. lifted its stake in shares of Prothena by 99.7% in the 1st quarter. Artal Group S.A. now owns 1,001,360 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $24,804,000 after purchasing an additional 500,000 shares during the last quarter. 97.08% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Prothena

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.