Oppenheimer Downgrades Prothena (NASDAQ:PRTA) to Market Perform

Oppenheimer cut shares of Prothena (NASDAQ:PRTA - Free Report) from an outperform rating to a market perform rating in a research note released on Tuesday, MarketBeat Ratings reports.

A number of other brokerages also recently commented on PRTA. HC Wainwright reduced their price objective on shares of Prothena from $30.00 to $14.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday. Cantor Fitzgerald raised shares of Prothena to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 13th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price target on shares of Prothena from $24.00 to $20.00 and set a "sector perform" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Chardan Capital cut their price objective on Prothena from $40.00 to $18.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, JMP Securities dropped their price target on Prothena from $80.00 to $78.00 and set a "market outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 9th. One equities research 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's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Prothena has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $31.50.

Prothena Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:PRTA traded down $0.11 on Tuesday, hitting $4.59. 1,963,387 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 686,990. Prothena has a 1-year low of $4.32 and a 1-year high of $25.42. The company has a market capitalization of $247.07 million, a PE ratio of -2.00 and a beta of 0.11. The firm's 50-day moving average is $8.88 and its 200 day moving average is $12.48.

Prothena (NASDAQ:PRTA - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 8th. The biotechnology company reported ($1.12) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.92) by ($0.20). The business had revenue of $2.83 million for 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 company's revenue for the quarter was up 5500.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted ($1.34) earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that Prothena will post -4.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Prothena

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. SG Americas Securities LLC grew its holdings in Prothena by 167.0% in the 4th quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 37,612 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $521,000 after buying an additional 23,525 shares during the period. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC purchased a new stake in Prothena in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $159,000. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its position in Prothena by 10.3% during the fourth quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 11,409 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $158,000 after purchasing an additional 1,065 shares during the last quarter. Focused Wealth Management Inc purchased a new position in Prothena during the fourth quarter worth approximately $445,000. Finally, Rhumbline Advisers boosted its holdings in shares of Prothena by 1.8% in the 4th quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 67,115 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $930,000 after purchasing an additional 1,175 shares during the last quarter. 97.08% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Prothena Company Profile

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.