Insider Buying: Prothena (NASDAQ:PRTA) Major Shareholder Purchases $1,050,000.00 in Stock

Key Points

• Major shareholder William Scully bought 125,000 Prothena shares at $8.40 each, investing $1.05 million and increasing his position by 39.81% to 439,000 shares.
• Prothena shares rose 3.0% to $8.87, while the clinical-stage biotech reported a quarterly loss of $0.32 per share—better than analysts’ expected $0.39 loss—and revenue of $1.01 million.
• Analyst sentiment remains broadly positive, with a “Moderate Buy” consensus and an average price target of $24.57, although ratings range from Strong Buy to Sell; institutional investors own 97.08% of the stock.

Prothena Corporation plc (NASDAQ:PRTA - Get Free Report) major shareholder William Scully acquired 125,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 7th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $8.40 per share, with a total value of $1,050,000.00. Following the acquisition, the insider owned 439,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,687,600. The trade was a 39.81% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Major shareholders that own 10% or more of a company's shares are required to disclose their transactions with the SEC.

Prothena Stock Up 3.0%

Shares of PRTA traded up $0.26 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $8.87. 190,055 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 508,207. Prothena Corporation plc has a 12-month low of $7.73 and a 12-month high of $11.80. The stock has a market capitalization of $464.24 million, a P/E ratio of -10.54, a P/E/G ratio of 2.99 and a beta of -0.29. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $8.88 and a 200-day moving average price of $9.34.

Prothena (NASDAQ:PRTA - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.32) earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.39) by $0.07. The company had revenue of $1.01 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $0.42 million. Prothena had a negative return on equity of 16.45% and a negative net margin of 80.68%. As a group, research analysts predict that Prothena Corporation plc will post 0.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently commented on PRTA shares. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Prothena from a "sell (d-)" rating to a "sell (e+)" rating in a research note on Thursday, September 24th. HC Wainwright reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $30.00 price objective on shares of Prothena in a report on Friday, July 24th. Wall Street Zen cut Prothena from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, July 25th. Finally, UBS Group reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Prothena in a report on Friday, July 24th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $24.57.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Prothena

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Versant Capital Management Inc raised its stake in shares of Prothena by 179.1% during the 3rd quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 5,704 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $48,000 after buying an additional 3,660 shares in the last quarter. Engineers Gate Manager LP purchased a new position in Prothena in the second quarter worth $404,000. Headlands Technologies LLC acquired a new stake in Prothena in the second quarter valued at $148,000. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio purchased a new stake in shares of Prothena during the 2nd quarter worth $413,000. Finally, Great Lakes Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Prothena during the 2nd quarter worth $281,000. 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 focused on discovering and developing therapies for diseases caused by protein misfolding or abnormal protein accumulation. Its research programs target neurological and systemic disorders, including Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, and transthyretin amyloidosis.

The company's pipeline has included PRX012, an investigational next-generation antibody targeting amyloid beta for Alzheimer's disease; prasinezumab, an anti-alpha-synuclein antibody being developed for Parkinson's disease through a collaboration with Roche; and birtamimab, an investigational treatment designed to target misfolded light chains associated with AL amyloidosis.

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