Prothena (NASDAQ:PRTA) Shares Cross Below 200 Day Moving Average - Here's What Happened

Key Points

• Prothena's stock price has dropped below its 200-day moving average, currently trading at $7.54 compared to the average of $9.53.
• Analysts have downgraded their ratings on Prothena, with Jefferies setting a target price of $6.00 and Oppenheimer moving from "outperform" to "market perform."
• The company reported a loss of ($1.86) EPS for the last quarter, missing expectations and has a negative return on equity of 62.17%.

Prothena Corporation plc (NASDAQ:PRTA - Get Free Report) passed below its 200-day moving average during trading on Tuesday . The stock has a 200-day moving average of $9.53 and traded as low as $7.50. Prothena shares last traded at $7.54, with a volume of 906,550 shares traded.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PRTA has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Chardan Capital reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $18.00 price objective on shares of Prothena in a research report on Tuesday, August 5th. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded Prothena from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $6.00 price target for the company. in a report on Tuesday, May 27th. Bank of America reissued an "underperform" rating on shares of Prothena in a research report on Wednesday, May 28th. HC Wainwright reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $14.00 target price on shares of Prothena in a report on Tuesday, August 5th. Finally, Piper Sandler reduced their price objective on Prothena from $110.00 to $81.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, May 27th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $30.25.

Prothena Stock Performance

The company has a market cap of $444.10 million, a P/E ratio of -1.46 and a beta of -0.03. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $6.43 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $9.46.

Prothena (NASDAQ:PRTA - Get Free Report) last issued 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 return on equity of 62.17% and a negative net margin of 2,929.30%. The business had revenue of $4.42 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.36 million. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Prothena Corporation plc will post -4.04 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Prospera Financial Services Inc acquired a new position in shares of Prothena in the 2nd quarter valued at about $61,000. Virtus ETF Advisers LLC raised its position in shares of Prothena by 19.3% during the fourth quarter. Virtus ETF Advisers LLC now owns 5,148 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $71,000 after purchasing an additional 833 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in shares of Prothena by 4,626.0% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 6,002 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $74,000 after buying an additional 5,875 shares in the last quarter. Corton Capital Inc. bought a new position in Prothena in the 2nd quarter valued at about $85,000. Finally, Los Angeles Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Prothena during the second quarter valued at approximately $101,000. 97.08% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.