Atara Biotherapeutics (NASDAQ:ATRA) Upgraded at Wall Street Zen

Atara Biotherapeutics (NASDAQ:ATRA) was upgraded by Wall Street Zen from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report issued on Saturday.

A number of other research firms also recently weighed in on ATRA. Canaccord Genuity Group set a $13.00 target price on Atara Biotherapeutics and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 8th. Freedom Capital upgraded Atara Biotherapeutics from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, May 18th. Finally, Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Atara Biotherapeutics from a “sell (d)” rating to a “sell (e+)” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 11th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Atara Biotherapeutics currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $9.50.

Atara Biotherapeutics Trading Up 2.8%

Shares of ATRA opened at $10.51 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $94.70 million, a PE ratio of -15.69 and a beta of 0.11. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $8.65 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $8.39. Atara Biotherapeutics has a 1-year low of $3.92 and a 1-year high of $19.15.

Atara Biotherapeutics (NASDAQ:ATRA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 12th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.29) earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.33) by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $0.52 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.90 million. Atara Biotherapeutics had a negative return on equity of 79.12% and a negative net margin of 40.91%. As a group, research analysts forecast that Atara Biotherapeutics will post -0.16 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Atara Biotherapeutics

In other Atara Biotherapeutics news, CEO Anhco Nguyen sold 5,241 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $9.13, for a total transaction of $47,850.33. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 137,837 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,258,451.81. The trade was a 3.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, major shareholder Innovation Ltd Panacea sold 313,446 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $10.10, for a total value of $3,165,804.60. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 1,011,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,211,100. This represents a 23.67% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 321,101 shares of company stock worth $3,235,695 over the last quarter. 41.20% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Atara Biotherapeutics

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Globeflex Capital L P increased its holdings in shares of Atara Biotherapeutics by 399.6% in the 4th quarter. Globeflex Capital L P now owns 77,224 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $1,397,000 after buying an additional 61,766 shares during the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP bought a new position in shares of Atara Biotherapeutics in the 2nd quarter valued at about $327,000. Mackenzie Financial Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Atara Biotherapeutics by 183.5% in the 3rd quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 63,816 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $914,000 after acquiring an additional 41,302 shares during the last quarter. Bridgeway Capital Management LLC grew its position in Atara Biotherapeutics by 133.5% in the fourth quarter. Bridgeway Capital Management LLC now owns 32,691 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $591,000 after acquiring an additional 18,691 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Atara Biotherapeutics by 6.6% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 203,438 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $2,915,000 after acquiring an additional 12,677 shares during the last quarter. 70.90% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Atara Biotherapeutics Company Profile

Atara Biotherapeutics, Inc is a biotechnology company focused on the discovery, development and commercialization of novel T-cell immunotherapies to transform the treatment of cancer and autoimmune disease. Headquartered in South San Francisco, California, Atara leverages its proprietary off-the-shelf allogeneic Epstein-Barr virus (EBV)-directed T-cell platform to generate engineered cell therapies designed to target EBV-driven malignancies and immune-mediated disorders.

The company’s lead product candidate, tabelecleucel, is an off-the-shelf, EBV-specific T-cell therapy in clinical development for the treatment of EBV-positive post-transplant lymphoproliferative disease (PTLD) and other EBV-associated cancers.