JMP Securities Issues Pessimistic Forecast for Prothena (NASDAQ:PRTA) Stock Price

Key Points

• JMP Securities lowered its price target for Prothena from $29.00 to $11.00, maintaining a "market outperform" rating, which suggests a potential upside of 34.15% from the stock's previous close.
• Prothena recently reported a quarterly loss of ($1.86) EPS, missing the consensus estimate and generating revenue of $4.42 million, which was below analyst expectations.
• Institutional investors and hedge funds now own 97.08% of Prothena’s shares, indicating strong support from major investors in the biotechnology sector.

Prothena (NASDAQ:PRTA - Get Free Report) had its price target dropped by equities research analysts at JMP Securities from $29.00 to $11.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Tuesday, MarketBeat reports. The brokerage currently has a "market outperform" rating on the biotechnology company's stock. JMP Securities' price target indicates a potential upside of 28.65% from the company's current price.

PRTA has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded shares of Prothena from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $6.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Tuesday, May 27th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed a "neutral" rating on shares of Prothena in a research note on Friday, June 20th. Royal Bank Of Canada decreased their price target on shares of Prothena from $18.00 to $10.00 and set a "sector perform" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, August 5th. Bank of America reaffirmed an "underperform" rating on shares of Prothena in a research note on Wednesday, May 28th. Finally, Oppenheimer cut shares of Prothena from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 27th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $19.75.

Prothena Trading Up 4.1%

PRTA stock traded up $0.34 on Tuesday, hitting $8.55. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,128,164 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,008,718. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $7.32 and a two-hundred day moving average of $8.76. Prothena has a 1 year low of $4.32 and a 1 year high of $22.71. The stock has a market cap of $460.25 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -1.52 and a beta of -0.04.

Prothena (NASDAQ:PRTA - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 4th. The biotechnology company reported ($1.86) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($1.11) by ($0.75). Prothena had a negative net margin of 2,929.30% and a negative return on equity of 62.17%. The business had revenue of $4.42 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $5.36 million. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Prothena will post -4.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Prothena

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in shares of Prothena by 4,626.0% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 6,002 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $74,000 after purchasing an additional 5,875 shares during the period. Prospera Financial Services Inc acquired a new position in Prothena in the second quarter worth $61,000. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in Prothena in the first quarter worth $126,000. Cary Street Partners Financial LLC acquired a new position in Prothena in the fourth quarter worth $173,000. Finally, Tower Research Capital LLC TRC boosted its holdings in Prothena by 571.0% in the second quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 12,709 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $77,000 after purchasing an additional 10,815 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.08% of the company's stock.

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.