Prothena (NASDAQ:PRTA) Stock Price Up 8.7% – Should You Buy?

Prothena Corporation plc (NASDAQ:PRTA) shot up 8.7% during mid-day trading on Monday . The stock traded as high as $9.42 and last traded at $9.4250. 189,777 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 59% from the average session volume of 459,746 shares. The stock had previously closed at $8.67.

Analyst Ratings Changes

PRTA has been the topic of a number of research reports. Citigroup reissued a “market outperform” rating on shares of Prothena in a research note on Monday, December 1st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $19.00 price objective on Prothena in a research report on Monday, December 1st. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (e+)” rating on shares of Prothena in a report on Monday, December 29th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Prothena from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, November 8th. Finally, HC Wainwright lifted their price target on Prothena from $20.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have issued a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $22.00.

Prothena Trading Up 5.3%

The business has a fifty day moving average price of $9.18 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $9.48. The firm has a market capitalization of $530.76 million, a PE ratio of -2.17, a PEG ratio of 1.15 and a beta of -0.24.

Prothena (NASDAQ:PRTA) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 19th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.44) EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.45) by $0.01. Prothena had a negative net margin of 2,520.57% and a negative return on equity of 62.53%. The company had revenue of $0.02 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $0.67 million. On average, equities analysts forecast that Prothena Corporation plc will post -4.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Prothena

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in PRTA. Prospera Financial Services Inc purchased a new position in shares of Prothena during the second quarter worth $61,000. CWM LLC lifted its stake in Prothena by 650.1% during the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 10,246 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $100,000 after acquiring an additional 8,880 shares in the last quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Prothena during the 4th quarter valued at about $100,000. Inscription Capital LLC acquired a new position in Prothena in the 3rd quarter valued at about $102,000. Finally, PDT Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Prothena during the fourth quarter worth about $108,000. 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.