Stock Traders Buy High Volume of Prothena Put Options (NASDAQ:PRTA)

Prothena Co. plc (NASDAQ:PRTA - Get Free Report) was the recipient of some unusual options trading activity on Tuesday. Investors acquired 8,185 put options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 1,210% compared to the typical daily volume of 625 put options.

Prothena Price Performance

NASDAQ:PRTA traded down $0.11 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $4.59. 1,963,387 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 686,990. The company has a market cap of $247.07 million, a PE ratio of -2.00 and a beta of 0.11. Prothena has a one year low of $4.32 and a one year high of $25.42. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $8.88 and a 200 day moving average price of $12.48.

Prothena (NASDAQ:PRTA - Get Free Report) last issued 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). The firm 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 firm's quarterly revenue was up 5500.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted ($1.34) earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Prothena will post -4.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Siren L.L.C. raised its holdings in Prothena by 16.7% in the first quarter. Siren L.L.C. now owns 1,283,555 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $15,884,000 after buying an additional 183,715 shares during the last quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. purchased a new position in Prothena in the first quarter worth about $230,000. Birchview Capital LP raised its holdings in Prothena by 9.3% in the first quarter. Birchview Capital LP now owns 332,974 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $4,121,000 after buying an additional 28,400 shares during the last quarter. PDT Partners LLC raised its holdings in Prothena by 18.2% in the first quarter. PDT Partners LLC now owns 150,316 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $1,860,000 after buying an additional 23,113 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP raised its holdings in 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. 97.08% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Oppenheimer lowered shares of Prothena from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a research note on Tuesday. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Prothena from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, February 24th. HC Wainwright dropped their price objective on shares of Prothena from $30.00 to $14.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday. Chardan Capital dropped their price objective on shares of Prothena from $40.00 to $18.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, JMP Securities dropped their price objective on shares of Prothena from $78.00 to $29.00 and set a "market outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Prothena currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $31.50.

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.