Franklin Resources Inc. Takes Position in Prothena Co. plc (NASDAQ:PRTA)

Franklin Resources Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Prothena Co. plc (NASDAQ:PRTA) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 19,687 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock, valued at approximately $273,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Teacher Retirement System of Texas bought a new stake in shares of Prothena during the fourth quarter worth $145,000. Purkiss Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Prothena during the 4th quarter worth about $149,000. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in Prothena by 10.3% during the 4th quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 11,409 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $158,000 after acquiring an additional 1,065 shares during the last quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC acquired a new stake in Prothena in the 4th quarter valued at about $159,000. Finally, KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS bought a new position in shares of Prothena in the fourth quarter worth about $179,000. 97.08% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Prothena Trading Down 0.6 %

PRTA stock opened at $9.20 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $495.21 million, a PE ratio of -4.00 and a beta of 0.07. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $12.89 and a 200-day moving average price of $14.44. Prothena Co. plc has a 1-year low of $9.10 and a 1-year high of $25.42.

Prothena (NASDAQ:PRTA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The biotechnology company reported ($1.08) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($1.02) by ($0.06). The business had revenue of $2.12 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.53 million. Prothena had a negative net margin of 90.50% and a negative return on equity of 22.67%. On average, analysts forecast that Prothena Co. plc will post -4.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have issued reports on PRTA shares. Oppenheimer upped their target price on shares of Prothena from $58.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating on shares of Prothena in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Chardan Capital reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $40.00 price target on shares of Prothena in a report on Friday, February 21st. HC Wainwright reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $48.00 target price on shares of Prothena in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Prothena from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, February 24th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Prothena has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $55.00.

Prothena 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.