Prothena (NASDAQ:PRTA) Major Shareholder Acquires $1,406,160.00 in Stock

Key Points

• Major shareholder William Scully purchased 162,000 Prothena shares at an average price of $8.68, investing $1.41 million and increasing his holdings by 311.54% to 214,000 shares.
• Prothena shares fell to $8.38, below both their 50-day and 200-day moving averages, while the company continues to report losses despite beating quarterly earnings and revenue estimates.
• Analyst sentiment remains a “Moderate Buy,” with 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 purchased 162,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 29th. The stock was bought at an average price of $8.68 per share, with a total value of $1,406,160.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the insider owned 214,000 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,857,520. This trade represents a 311.54% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Large shareholders that own at least 10% of a company's stock are required to disclose their sales and purchases with the SEC.

Prothena Price Performance

NASDAQ:PRTA traded down $0.40 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $8.38. 634,528 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 506,577. The business has a 50 day moving average of $8.91 and a 200 day moving average of $9.36. Prothena Corporation plc has a 1-year low of $7.73 and a 1-year high of $11.80. The company has a market capitalization of $438.69 million, a P/E ratio of -9.98, a P/E/G ratio of 3.07 and a beta of -0.33.

Prothena (NASDAQ:PRTA - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 6th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.32) earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.39) by $0.07. The firm 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, equities research analysts anticipate that Prothena Corporation plc will post 0.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Prothena

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of PRTA. Rubric Capital Management LP lifted its position in shares of Prothena by 36.0% during the 1st quarter. Rubric Capital Management LP now owns 5,000,000 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $48,600,000 after buying an additional 1,322,669 shares during the last quarter. Penbrook Management LLC bought a new position in Prothena in the first quarter valued at about $2,641,000. Renaissance Technologies LLC grew its position in Prothena by 39.5% in the first quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 607,515 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $5,905,000 after acquiring an additional 172,000 shares during the last quarter. ADAR1 Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Prothena by 8.5% during the first quarter. ADAR1 Capital Management LLC now owns 1,581,443 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $15,372,000 after acquiring an additional 123,679 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Focused Wealth Management Inc raised its stake in Prothena by 93.0% during the first quarter. Focused Wealth Management Inc now owns 207,403 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $2,016,000 after acquiring an additional 99,924 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.08% of the company's stock.

About Prothena

Prothena Corporation plc NASDAQ: PRTA is a clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on discovering and developing novel therapies for neurodegenerative and other protein-misfolding diseases. The company's research is based on targeting abnormal proteins and the biological processes associated with their accumulation in tissue.

Prothena's lead programs include birtamimab, an investigational antibody being developed for patients with AL amyloidosis, and prasinezumab, an investigational antibody targeting alpha-synuclein for Parkinson's disease.

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