Prothena (NASDAQ:PRTA) Reaches New 12-Month High Following Analyst Upgrade

Key Points

• Prothena shares hit a new 52-week high after Citizens Jmp raised its price target from $19 to $20 and maintained a market outperform rating; the stock traded as high as $11.80 and last traded around $11.27 on elevated volume.
• Analyst sentiment is mixed: MarketBeat shows a consensus rating of "Hold" with a $21.78 target, while individual firms range from Strong Buy to Sell and several analysts have recently lifted price objectives.
• The company remains unprofitable—reporting a ($0.44) EPS last quarter with minimal revenue—and is overwhelmingly institutionally owned (about 97.08% of shares).

Prothena Corporation plc (NASDAQ:PRTA - Get Free Report) shares hit a new 52-week high during trading on Friday after Citizens Jmp raised their price target on the stock from $19.00 to $20.00. Citizens Jmp currently has a market outperform rating on the stock. Prothena traded as high as $11.80 and last traded at $11.2660, with a volume of 103413 shares. The stock had previously closed at $10.52.

PRTA has been the subject of several other research reports. Weiss Ratings lowered Prothena from a "sell (d-)" rating to a "sell (e+)" rating in a research report on Monday, April 27th. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price objective on Prothena from $11.00 to $12.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research note on Friday, February 20th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $19.00 price objective on Prothena in a research note on Friday, March 13th. Finally, Citigroup restated an "outperform" rating on shares of Prothena in a report on Friday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have given a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Prothena has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $21.78.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Prothena

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in PRTA. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC raised its holdings in Prothena by 571.0% in the 2nd quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 12,709 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $77,000 after acquiring an additional 10,815 shares in the last quarter. CWM LLC raised its holdings in Prothena by 650.1% in the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 10,246 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $100,000 after acquiring an additional 8,880 shares in the last quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Prothena in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $100,000. Inscription Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Prothena in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $102,000. Finally, PDT Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Prothena in the 4th quarter worth approximately $108,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.08% of the company's stock.

Prothena Trading Up 2.1%

The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $9.92 and a 200-day moving average price of $9.81. The firm has a market capitalization of $578.40 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -2.37, a PEG ratio of 0.39 and a beta of -0.23.

Prothena (NASDAQ:PRTA - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 19th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.44) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.45) by $0.01. Prothena had a negative return on equity of 65.89% and a negative net margin of 2,520.57%.The business had revenue of $0.02 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $0.67 million. On average, equities analysts expect that Prothena Corporation plc will post 0.69 EPS for the current year.

About Prothena

Prothena Corporation plc is a clinical-stage biotechnology company dedicated to the discovery and development of novel therapies for neurodegenerative and rare diseases driven by misfolded proteins. The company’s research focuses on immunotherapies and small molecules designed to target and clear disease-causing protein aggregates. Prothena leverages proprietary protein engineering and antibody discovery platforms to advance candidates through preclinical and clinical stages.

The company’s most advanced program is an antibody targeting aggregated alpha-synuclein for the potential treatment of Parkinson’s disease, currently in mid-stage clinical trials.

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