Thornburg Investment Management Inc. Trims Stock Holdings in Prothena Co. plc (NASDAQ:PRTA)

Thornburg Investment Management Inc. decreased its holdings in shares of Prothena Co. plc (NASDAQ:PRTA) by 9.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 25,591 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after selling 2,680 shares during the quarter. Thornburg Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Prothena were worth $930,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. raised its stake in shares of Prothena by 3.9% during the 3rd quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 7,908 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $382,000 after purchasing an additional 295 shares during the period. Teacher Retirement System of Texas increased its position in shares of Prothena by 4.9% during the third quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 11,231 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $542,000 after buying an additional 529 shares during the period. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Prothena by 99.0% in the third quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 1,375 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $66,000 after buying an additional 684 shares in the last quarter. Pinnacle Associates Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Prothena by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Pinnacle Associates Ltd. now owns 125,747 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $4,570,000 after acquiring an additional 741 shares during the period. Finally, Alps Advisors Inc. grew its stake in Prothena by 1.9% during the third quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. now owns 39,524 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $1,907,000 after acquiring an additional 748 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.08% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

PRTA has been the subject of several analyst reports. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Prothena from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, February 19th. Bank of America restated a “neutral” rating and set a $38.00 target price (down from $68.00) on shares of Prothena in a research report on Tuesday, January 30th. HC Wainwright decreased their target price on Prothena from $90.00 to $84.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 9th. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price target on Prothena from $36.00 to $35.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 16th. Finally, Oppenheimer decreased their price objective on shares of Prothena from $98.00 to $80.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 20th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $67.00.

Prothena Price Performance

NASDAQ:PRTA traded down $0.13 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $23.26. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 16,459 shares, compared to its average volume of 715,516. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $23.48 and a 200-day simple moving average of $29.85. Prothena Co. plc has a 1 year low of $19.65 and a 1 year high of $77.13.

Prothena (NASDAQ:PRTA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 8th. The biotechnology company reported ($1.34) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($1.21) by ($0.13). The company had revenue of $0.05 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.75 million. Prothena had a negative return on equity of 30.48% and a negative net margin of 193.17%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted ($0.89) EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Prothena Co. plc will post -4.69 earnings per share for the current year.

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.