Prothena (NASDAQ:PRTA) Stock Price Expected to Rise, Oppenheimer Analyst Says

Prothena (NASDAQ:PRTA) had its target price boosted by Oppenheimer from $58.00 to $62.00 in a research report released on Friday morning,Benzinga reports. Oppenheimer currently has an outperform rating on the biotechnology company’s stock.

Several other brokerages have also recently weighed in on PRTA. Bank of America reduced their price target on shares of Prothena from $26.00 to $22.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Prothena from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Chardan Capital started coverage on Prothena in a research note on Friday, December 20th. They set a “buy” rating and a $40.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, HC Wainwright reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $48.00 price objective (down from $84.00) on shares of Prothena in a research note on Friday, December 20th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $46.50.

Prothena Stock Down 2.7 %

PRTA opened at $14.05 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $14.32 and a 200 day moving average of $17.48. Prothena has a fifty-two week low of $11.70 and a fifty-two week high of $31.03.

Prothena (NASDAQ:PRTA) last issued its earnings results 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.22 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.38 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down 98.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that Prothena will post -2.24 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Prothena

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its position in Prothena by 63.7% in the 3rd quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 10,344 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $173,000 after acquiring an additional 4,026 shares during the last quarter. Purkiss Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Prothena in the fourth quarter worth about $149,000. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC purchased a new position in Prothena in the 4th quarter worth about $159,000. Intech Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in Prothena during the 3rd quarter valued at about $210,000. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in Prothena in the 4th quarter valued at about $182,000. 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.