Chardan Capital Initiates Coverage on Prothena (NASDAQ:PRTA)

Chardan Capital started coverage on shares of Prothena (NASDAQ:PRTA) in a research note issued to investors on Friday morning, Marketbeat Ratings reports. The firm issued a buy rating and a $40.00 price target on the biotechnology company’s stock.

A number of other research analysts have also recently issued reports on PRTA. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating on shares of Prothena in a report on Monday, September 30th. HC Wainwright reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $84.00 target price on shares of Prothena in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. Bank of America cut their price target on Prothena from $26.00 to $22.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Prothena from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Prothena presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $52.29.

Prothena Stock Down 4.9 %

Shares of NASDAQ:PRTA opened at $15.22 on Friday. Prothena has a 52 week low of $11.70 and a 52 week high of $41.54. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $15.73 and a 200 day moving average price of $19.14. The company has a market cap of $818.97 million, a P/E ratio of -6.14 and a beta of 0.09.

Prothena (NASDAQ:PRTA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 12th. The biotechnology company reported ($1.10) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($1.18) by $0.08. Prothena had a negative return on equity of 24.19% and a negative net margin of 98.86%. The firm had revenue of $0.97 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.22 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.38 earnings per share. Prothena’s revenue was down 98.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that Prothena will post -2.24 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Prothena

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its holdings in Prothena by 13.4% in the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 165,423 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $3,414,000 after purchasing an additional 19,578 shares during the period. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank raised its position in shares of Prothena by 13.1% in the 2nd quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 10,236 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $211,000 after buying an additional 1,186 shares during the period. Signaturefd LLC boosted its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 863 shares during the last quarter. Focused Wealth Management Inc grew its position in Prothena by 98.7% during the second quarter. Focused Wealth Management Inc now owns 20,129 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $415,000 after acquiring an additional 10,000 shares during the period. Finally, Rhumbline Advisers increased its stake in Prothena by 9.9% during the second quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 69,756 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $1,440,000 after acquiring an additional 6,256 shares during the last quarter. 97.08% of the stock is 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.