Insider Selling: Atara Biotherapeutics (NASDAQ:ATRA) CEO Sells $47,850.33 in Stock

Atara Biotherapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:ATRA) CEO Anhco Nguyen sold 5,241 shares of the company’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 directly owned 137,837 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,258,451.81. The trade was a 3.66% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards.

Atara Biotherapeutics Stock Performance

ATRA opened at $9.80 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $6.11 and its 200-day simple moving average is $8.94. Atara Biotherapeutics, Inc. has a twelve month low of $3.92 and a twelve month high of $19.15. The firm has a market cap of $88.30 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -14.63 and a beta of -0.30.

Atara Biotherapeutics (NASDAQ:ATRA) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, May 12th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.29) earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.33) by $0.04. Atara Biotherapeutics had a negative net margin of 40.91% and a negative return on equity of 79.12%. The business had revenue of $0.52 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.90 million. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Atara Biotherapeutics, Inc. will post 0.2 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have commented on ATRA shares. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Atara Biotherapeutics from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, May 16th. Canaccord Genuity Group set a $13.00 price objective on shares of Atara Biotherapeutics and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 8th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Atara Biotherapeutics in a report on Friday, March 27th. Finally, Freedom Capital raised shares of Atara Biotherapeutics from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, May 18th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Atara Biotherapeutics currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $9.50.

Trending Headlines about Atara Biotherapeutics

Here are the key news stories impacting Atara Biotherapeutics this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Investor sentiment has improved after reports that the FDA outlined a regulatory pathway for Atara’s lead candidate, tab-cel, reviving hopes for potential U.S. approval following two prior complete response letters. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Several law firms issued reminders about a May 22 lead-plaintiff deadline in a securities class action against Atara, keeping attention on the company’s legal overhang and potentially limiting gains. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Atara also disclosed insider sales by its CEO and chief accounting officer, but the company said the transactions were made to cover tax withholding tied to equity vesting, which makes them less concerning than open-market selling. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: The newly filed class action and repeated investor-rights solicitations highlight allegations of prior securities-law violations, creating a legal overhang that could weigh on ATRA if investor focus shifts from the FDA path back to litigation risk. Article Title

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Atara Biotherapeutics

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of Atara Biotherapeutics in the 2nd quarter valued at about $31,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP bought a new position in shares of Atara Biotherapeutics in the 4th quarter valued at about $181,000. Walleye Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Atara Biotherapeutics in the 4th quarter valued at about $220,000. Quadrature Capital Ltd boosted its stake in shares of Atara Biotherapeutics by 22.8% in the 4th quarter. Quadrature Capital Ltd now owns 20,321 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $368,000 after purchasing an additional 3,779 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GSA Capital Partners LLP boosted its stake in shares of Atara Biotherapeutics by 33.8% in the 3rd quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP now owns 26,213 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $376,000 after purchasing an additional 6,622 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 70.90% of the company’s stock.

About Atara Biotherapeutics

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.