Prothena (NASDAQ:PRTA) Shares Gap Up – Time to Buy?

Prothena Co. plc (NASDAQ:PRTA) shares gapped up prior to trading on Monday . The stock had previously closed at $15.30, but opened at $16.22. Prothena shares last traded at $17.97, with a volume of 302,186 shares changing hands.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently weighed in on PRTA shares. 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 report on Tuesday, October 1st. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating on shares of Prothena in a research report on Monday, September 30th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Prothena from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, August 12th. HC Wainwright reissued a “buy” rating and set a $84.00 price objective on shares of Prothena in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lowered their target price on Prothena from $28.00 to $24.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, August 9th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $61.86.

Prothena Trading Up 15.9 %

The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $19.47 and a 200 day simple moving average of $20.76.

Prothena (NASDAQ:PRTA) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 8th. The biotechnology company reported $1.22 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.01) by $2.23. The company had revenue of $132.01 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.73 million. Prothena had a negative return on equity of 9.00% and a negative net margin of 23.44%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 3184.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned ($1.03) earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that Prothena Co. plc will post -2.34 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Prothena

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Signaturefd LLC lifted its stake in Prothena by 182.1% in the second quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 1,337 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 863 shares during the period. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. boosted its stake in Prothena by 265.9% during the fourth quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 1,544 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $56,000 after acquiring an additional 1,122 shares in the last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC acquired a new stake in Prothena in the first quarter worth $96,000. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its stake in Prothena by 63.7% in the third quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 10,344 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $173,000 after purchasing an additional 4,026 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank raised its holdings in shares of Prothena by 13.1% during the second quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 10,236 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $211,000 after purchasing an additional 1,186 shares during the period. 97.08% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.