Short Interest in Prothena Co. plc (NASDAQ:PRTA) Drops By 50.7%

Prothena Co. plc (NASDAQ:PRTA - Get Free Report) was the target of a large drop in short interest in May. As of May 31st, there was short interest totalling 4,410,000 shares, a drop of 50.7% from the May 15th total of 8,950,000 shares. Currently, 10.4% of the company's stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 1,350,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 3.3 days.

Prothena Price Performance

Shares of PRTA traded up $0.01 on Friday, reaching $5.08. The company's stock had a trading volume of 806,357 shares, compared to its average volume of 720,354. The stock has a market capitalization of $273.44 million, a P/E ratio of -2.21 and a beta of -0.08. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $7.50 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $11.77. Prothena has a 12-month low of $4.32 and a 12-month high of $25.42.

Prothena (NASDAQ:PRTA - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 8th. The biotechnology company reported ($1.12) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.92) by ($0.20). The business had revenue of $2.83 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $8.18 million. Prothena had a negative return on equity of 22.67% and a negative net margin of 90.50%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 5500.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted ($1.34) EPS. Analysts expect that Prothena will post -4.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have weighed in on PRTA shares. Bank of America restated an "underperform" rating on shares of Prothena in a research note on Wednesday, May 28th. Piper Sandler reduced their price objective on shares of Prothena from $110.00 to $81.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, May 27th. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded shares of Prothena from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $6.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Tuesday, May 27th. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price objective on shares of Prothena from $24.00 to $20.00 and set a "sector perform" rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 21st. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald cut shares of Prothena from an "overweight" rating to a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, May 27th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $31.50.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Prothena

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in shares of Prothena by 1.3% in the first quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 5,199,528 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $64,344,000 after buying an additional 68,652 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Prothena by 11.5% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,403,838 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $19,443,000 after purchasing an additional 144,737 shares in the last quarter. Siren L.L.C. lifted its holdings in Prothena by 16.7% during the first quarter. Siren L.L.C. now owns 1,283,555 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $15,884,000 after purchasing an additional 183,715 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in Prothena by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 864,833 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $11,980,000 after purchasing an additional 10,783 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Federated Hermes Inc. lifted its holdings in Prothena by 84.3% during the fourth quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 746,177 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $10,335,000 after purchasing an additional 341,274 shares in 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.