Oppenheimer Increases Prothena (NASDAQ:PRTA) Price Target to $62.00

Prothena (NASDAQ:PRTA) had its target price increased by equities research analysts at Oppenheimer from $58.00 to $62.00 in a research report issued on Friday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an “outperform” rating on the biotechnology company’s stock. Oppenheimer’s price objective would indicate a potential upside of 341.44% from the company’s previous close.

Several other research analysts have also issued reports on the stock. Bank of America decreased their price target on shares of Prothena from $26.00 to $22.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Prothena from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. HC Wainwright restated a “buy” rating and set a $48.00 price objective (down previously from $84.00) on shares of Prothena in a report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, Chardan Capital began coverage on shares of Prothena in a research note on Friday, December 20th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $40.00 target price on the stock. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Prothena currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $46.50.

Prothena Stock Performance

NASDAQ:PRTA traded down $0.40 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $14.05. The stock had a trading volume of 130,158 shares, compared to its average volume of 379,269. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $14.32 and a 200 day simple moving average of $17.48. Prothena has a twelve month low of $11.70 and a twelve month high of $31.03. The firm has a market capitalization of $755.76 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -5.66 and a beta of 0.08.

Prothena (NASDAQ:PRTA) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 12th. The biotechnology company reported ($1.10) EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.18) by $0.08. Prothena had a negative return on equity of 24.19% and a negative net margin of 98.86%. The business had revenue of $0.97 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.22 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.38 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 98.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Prothena will post -2.24 earnings per share for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Prothena

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position in Prothena by 14.8% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 4,178,788 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $69,911,000 after purchasing an additional 539,359 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its stake in Prothena by 1,122.9% in the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 526,748 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $8,812,000 after purchasing an additional 483,673 shares in the last quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Prothena in the 4th quarter worth about $724,000. Barclays PLC increased its holdings in Prothena by 110.2% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 95,222 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $1,592,000 after buying an additional 49,916 shares during the period. Finally, Focused Wealth Management Inc bought a new position in Prothena in the 4th quarter valued at about $445,000. 97.08% of the stock is currently 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.