Piper Sandler Has Lowered Expectations for Prothena (NASDAQ:PRTA) Stock Price

Key Points

• Piper Sandler has significantly reduced its price target for Prothena's stock from $81.00 to $15.00, suggesting a potential upside of 76.64% based on the company's previous close.
• Prothena reported a quarterly loss of ($1.86) EPS, missing expectations, with revenue of $4.42 million compared to an expected $5.36 million.
• The stock has seen mixed ratings, with four analysts issuing a "Buy" rating, four a "Hold" rating, and one a "Sell" rating, resulting in a consensus rating of "Hold" with an average price target of $22.00.

Prothena (NASDAQ:PRTA - Get Free Report) had its price target reduced by equities research analysts at Piper Sandler from $81.00 to $15.00 in a report released on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an "overweight" rating on the biotechnology company's stock. Piper Sandler's price target indicates a potential upside of 76.64% from the company's previous close.

Several other equities analysts have also commented on PRTA. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed a "neutral" rating on shares of Prothena in a report on Friday, June 20th. JMP Securities dropped their price target on shares of Prothena from $78.00 to $29.00 and set a "market outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, May 27th. Chardan Capital reissued a "buy" rating and set a $18.00 price target on shares of Prothena in a research report on Thursday. Jefferies Financial Group cut shares of Prothena from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $6.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Tuesday, May 27th. Finally, Bank of America reissued an "underperform" rating on shares of Prothena in a research report on Wednesday, May 28th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $22.00.

Prothena Stock Performance

Shares of PRTA stock traded down $0.07 on Thursday, hitting $8.49. 510,039 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,057,916. Prothena has a one year low of $4.32 and a one year high of $22.83. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $7.00 and its 200 day simple moving average is $9.08. The stock has a market capitalization of $457.12 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -1.49 and a beta of -0.03.

Prothena (NASDAQ:PRTA - Get Free Report) last released its 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.36 million. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Prothena will post -4.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Prothena

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in 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 in the last quarter. Prospera Financial Services Inc purchased a new stake in shares of Prothena in the second quarter valued at $61,000. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Prothena in the first quarter valued at $126,000. Cary Street Partners Financial LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Prothena in the fourth quarter valued at $173,000. Finally, Tower Research Capital LLC TRC grew its holdings in shares of 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 last quarter. 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.

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