William Scully Buys 100,000 Shares of Prothena (NASDAQ:PRTA) Stock

Key Points

• Major shareholder William Scully purchased 100,000 Prothena shares at an average price of $8.43, investing $843,000 and increasing his direct ownership to 927,000 shares.
• Prothena shares recently traded at $8.51, near the lower end of their 52-week range, while the company continues to report losses despite beating quarterly EPS and revenue expectations.
• Analysts maintain a generally positive outlook, with a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating and a $24.57 price target; institutional investors own 97.08% of the stock.

Prothena Corporation plc (NASDAQ:PRTA - Get Free Report) major shareholder William Scully purchased 100,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 18th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $8.43 per share, with a total value of $843,000.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the insider directly owned 927,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,814,610. This represents a 12.09% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Large shareholders that own 10% or more of a company's shares are required to disclose their transactions with the SEC.

Prothena Stock Performance

Prothena stock traded down $0.07 on Monday, reaching $8.51. The company's stock had a trading volume of 360,687 shares, compared to its average volume of 507,159. The company has a market cap of $445.50 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -10.13, a PEG ratio of 3.02 and a beta of -0.33. The business's fifty day moving average price is $8.91 and its 200 day moving average price is $9.41. Prothena Corporation plc has a twelve month low of $7.73 and a twelve month high of $11.80.

Prothena (NASDAQ:PRTA - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.32) earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.39) by $0.07. The company had revenue of $1.01 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 analysts forecast that Prothena Corporation plc will post 0.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Prothena

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Engineers Gate Manager LP acquired a new position in shares of Prothena in the 2nd quarter valued at $404,000. Headlands Technologies LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Prothena during the second quarter worth $148,000. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio bought a new stake in Prothena in the second quarter valued at about $413,000. Great Lakes Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Prothena in the second quarter valued at about $281,000. Finally, Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in Prothena by 2.5% in the second quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 90,795 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $889,000 after buying an additional 2,251 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.08% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently weighed in on PRTA. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Prothena from a "sell (e+)" rating to a "sell (d-)" rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 9th. UBS Group restated a "buy" rating on shares of Prothena in a research report on Friday, July 24th. HC Wainwright reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $30.00 price target on shares of Prothena in a research note on Friday, July 24th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut Prothena from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, July 25th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Prothena has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $24.57.

Prothena Company Profile

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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