Insider Selling: Prothena (NASDAQ:PRTA) General Counsel Sells $71,029.42 in Stock

Prothena Corporation plc (NASDAQ:PRTA) General Counsel Michael John Isaacs sold 8,386 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $8.47, for a total transaction of $71,029.42. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel directly owned 35,745 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $302,760.15. The trade was a 19.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink.

Prothena Price Performance

Shares of PRTA opened at $8.12 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $9.05 and its 200-day moving average is $9.42. Prothena Corporation plc has a 12-month low of $6.61 and a 12-month high of $11.80. The stock has a market capitalization of $425.08 million, a P/E ratio of -2.88, a P/E/G ratio of 1.30 and a beta of -0.31.

Prothena (NASDAQ:PRTA) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The biotechnology company reported $0.60 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.31) by $0.91. The business 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%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Prothena Corporation plc will post 0.18 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Prothena

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in PRTA. ProShare Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Prothena during the 4th quarter worth approximately $100,000. PDT Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Prothena in the fourth quarter valued at $108,000. DRW Securities LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Prothena in the fourth quarter valued at $114,000. Brooklyn Investment Group boosted its position in shares of Prothena by 13.1% in the third quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 12,569 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $123,000 after buying an additional 1,456 shares during the period. Finally, Tower Research Capital LLC TRC boosted its position in shares of Prothena by 571.0% in the second quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 12,709 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $77,000 after buying an additional 10,815 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.08% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

PRTA has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Citizens Jmp increased their price objective on Prothena from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Citigroup restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Prothena in a report on Friday, May 8th. Wall Street Zen lowered Prothena from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, July 25th. Weiss Ratings raised Prothena from a “sell (e+)” rating to a “sell (d-)” rating in a report on Tuesday. Finally, HC Wainwright reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $30.00 price target on shares of Prothena in a research report on Friday, July 24th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have issued a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $23.75.

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.