Prothena (NASDAQ:PRTA) Stock Price Crosses Below 200 Day Moving Average - Time to Sell?

Shares of Prothena Corporation plc (NASDAQ:PRTA - Get Free Report) crossed below its 200-day moving average during trading on Tuesday . The stock has a 200-day moving average of $11.63 and traded as low as $5.51. Prothena shares last traded at $5.70, with a volume of 3,132,980 shares trading hands.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently weighed in on the company. HC Wainwright decreased their price objective on Prothena from $30.00 to $14.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, May 27th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated a "neutral" rating on shares of Prothena in a report on Friday. Oppenheimer downgraded Prothena from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a report on Tuesday, May 27th. Royal Bank Of Canada decreased their price objective on Prothena from $24.00 to $20.00 and set a "sector perform" rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 21st. Finally, JMP Securities decreased their price objective on Prothena from $78.00 to $29.00 and set a "market outperform" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, May 27th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $31.50.

Prothena Stock Down 0.5%

The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $7.06 and a 200-day simple moving average of $11.45. The company has a market cap of $307.91 million, a PE ratio of -2.75 and a beta of -0.08.

Prothena (NASDAQ:PRTA - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results 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). Prothena had a negative net margin of 79.94% and a negative return on equity of 21.61%. The company had revenue of $2.83 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $8.18 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned ($1.34) EPS. Prothena's revenue for the quarter was up 5500.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Prothena Corporation plc will post -4.04 EPS for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Prothena

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Virtus ETF Advisers LLC grew its stake in Prothena by 19.3% in the fourth quarter. Virtus ETF Advisers LLC now owns 5,148 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $71,000 after purchasing an additional 833 shares during the last quarter. Rhumbline Advisers boosted its holdings in Prothena by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 67,115 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $930,000 after acquiring an additional 1,175 shares in the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. boosted its holdings in Prothena by 6.0% in the fourth quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 27,269 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $381,000 after acquiring an additional 1,551 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted its holdings in Prothena by 4.0% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 42,846 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $593,000 after acquiring an additional 1,632 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Prothena by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 327,151 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $4,531,000 after acquiring an additional 2,189 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.08% of the company's stock.

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.