Prothena (NASDAQ:PRTA) Major Shareholder William Scully Purchases 90,000 Shares of Company Stock

Key Points

• Major shareholder William Scully purchased 90,000 Prothena shares at an average of $8.57 each, investing $771,300 and increasing his direct ownership by 20.5% to 529,000 shares.
• Prothena shares traded at $8.87, with a market capitalization of approximately $464 million; the company recently reported a quarterly loss of $0.32 per share, but beat analysts’ estimates.
• Institutional investors own 97.08% of Prothena, while analysts maintain a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating with an average price target of $24.57, despite some recent downgrades.

Prothena Corporation plc (NASDAQ:PRTA - Get Free Report) major shareholder William Scully acquired 90,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 8th. The shares were bought at an average price of $8.57 per share, with a total value of $771,300.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 529,000 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,533,530. The trade was a 20.50% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Large shareholders that own at least 10% of a company's stock are required to disclose their transactions with the SEC.

Prothena Stock Performance

NASDAQ:PRTA traded up $0.26 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $8.87. 190,055 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 508,207. The stock has a market capitalization of $464.24 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -10.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.99 and a beta of -0.29. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $8.88 and its 200 day simple moving average is $9.34. Prothena Corporation plc has a fifty-two week low of $7.73 and a fifty-two week high of $11.80.

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Prothena

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Rubric Capital Management LP grew its stake in Prothena by 36.0% during the first quarter. Rubric Capital Management LP now owns 5,000,000 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $48,600,000 after acquiring an additional 1,322,669 shares in the last quarter. ADAR1 Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Prothena by 8.5% during the 1st quarter. ADAR1 Capital Management LLC now owns 1,581,443 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $15,372,000 after purchasing an additional 123,679 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of Prothena by 1.0% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 782,603 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $7,606,000 after purchasing an additional 7,396 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC raised 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 worth $5,905,000 after acquiring an additional 172,000 shares during the period. Finally, Penbrook Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Prothena in the 1st quarter worth $2,641,000. 97.08% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.