Prothena Co. plc (NASDAQ:PRTA) Shares Purchased by BNP Paribas Financial Markets

BNP Paribas Financial Markets lifted its position in Prothena Co. plc (NASDAQ:PRTA - Free Report) by 74.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 97,383 shares of the biotechnology company's stock after buying an additional 41,541 shares during the period. BNP Paribas Financial Markets owned approximately 0.18% of Prothena worth $1,349,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of PRTA. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. purchased a new position in Prothena in the fourth quarter worth $724,000. SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its position in shares of Prothena by 167.0% in the 4th quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 37,612 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $521,000 after purchasing an additional 23,525 shares in the last quarter. Duncan Williams Asset Management LLC grew its stake in Prothena by 41.9% during the 4th quarter. Duncan Williams Asset Management LLC now owns 69,199 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $958,000 after buying an additional 20,450 shares during the last quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC acquired a new position in Prothena during the 4th quarter valued at about $159,000. Finally, China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its stake in Prothena by 10.3% in the fourth quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 11,409 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $158,000 after buying an additional 1,065 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 97.08% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on PRTA. Chardan Capital restated a "buy" rating and set a $40.00 price target on shares of Prothena in a research note on Friday, May 9th. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their target price on shares of Prothena from $24.00 to $20.00 and set a "sector perform" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 21st. HC Wainwright cut their price target on shares of Prothena from $48.00 to $30.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 9th. Oppenheimer lifted their target price on Prothena from $58.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Prothena from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, February 24th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Prothena presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $51.71.

Prothena Stock Up 0.5%

Shares of PRTA traded up $0.03 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $6.58. The company had a trading volume of 1,712,552 shares, compared to its average volume of 602,915. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $9.67 and a two-hundred day moving average of $12.85. The stock has a market capitalization of $354.18 million, a P/E ratio of -2.86 and a beta of 0.11. Prothena Co. plc has a 52-week low of $6.36 and a 52-week high of $25.42.

Prothena (NASDAQ:PRTA - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 8th. The biotechnology company reported ($1.12) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.92) by ($0.20). The company had revenue of $2.83 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $8.18 million. Prothena had a negative return on equity of 22.67% and a negative net margin of 90.50%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 5500.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted ($1.34) EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Prothena Co. plc will post -4.04 earnings per share for the current year.

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.