E Fund Management Co. Ltd. Increases Stake in Prothena Co. plc (NASDAQ:PRTA)

E Fund Management Co. Ltd. increased its stake in Prothena Co. plc (NASDAQ:PRTA) by 37.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 11,096 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,037 shares during the period. E Fund Management Co. Ltd.’s holdings in Prothena were worth $403,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also bought and sold shares of PRTA. Raymond James & Associates boosted its position in Prothena by 98.4% during the 3rd quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 8,167 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $394,000 after buying an additional 4,050 shares during the period. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank grew its stake in shares of Prothena by 12.0% in the third quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 7,464 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $360,000 after purchasing an additional 797 shares during the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. raised its position in Prothena by 14.4% during the 3rd quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 25,652 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $1,238,000 after purchasing an additional 3,222 shares during the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc lifted its holdings in Prothena by 93.1% in the 3rd quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 172,682 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $8,332,000 after buying an additional 83,269 shares during the period. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC grew its position in shares of Prothena by 58.3% in the 3rd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 3,096 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $149,000 after buying an additional 1,140 shares during the last quarter. 97.08% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Prothena Stock Down 4.5 %

Shares of NASDAQ PRTA traded down $1.03 during trading on Thursday, reaching $22.00. 634,713 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 733,586. Prothena Co. plc has a 52-week low of $19.65 and a 52-week high of $77.36. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $24.30 and a 200-day simple moving average of $30.50. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.18 billion, a PE ratio of -7.80 and a beta of 0.30.

Prothena (NASDAQ:PRTA) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, May 8th. The biotechnology company reported ($1.34) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.21) by ($0.13). Prothena had a negative net margin of 160.91% and a negative return on equity of 24.84%. The firm had revenue of $0.05 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.75 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted ($0.89) EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Prothena Co. plc will post -4.88 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Oppenheimer dropped their target price on shares of Prothena from $98.00 to $80.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, February 20th. HC Wainwright decreased their price objective on Prothena from $90.00 to $84.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating on shares of Prothena in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Bank of America reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $38.00 price objective (down previously from $68.00) on shares of Prothena in a research note on Tuesday, January 30th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Prothena from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, February 19th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $67.00.

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.