Atara Biotherapeutics (NASDAQ:ATRA) Director Brian Cherry Acquires 104,166 Shares of Stock

Atara Biotherapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:ATRA) Director Brian Cherry bought 104,166 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 4th. The stock was bought at an average price of $9.60 per share, with a total value of $999,993.60. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director owned 166,486 shares in the company, valued at $1,598,265.60. This represents a 167.15% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link.

Atara Biotherapeutics Stock Performance

ATRA opened at $9.76 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $97.99 million, a PE ratio of -8.27 and a beta of 0.10. Atara Biotherapeutics, Inc. has a one year low of $3.92 and a one year high of $19.15. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $9.14 and its 200 day moving average price is $7.75.

Atara Biotherapeutics (NASDAQ:ATRA) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, August 12th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.32) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of ($0.32). Atara Biotherapeutics had a negative return on equity of 79.12% and a negative net margin of 269.42%.The company had revenue of $0.63 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $0.55 million. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Atara Biotherapeutics, Inc. will post -0.22 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Atara Biotherapeutics

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of ATRA. Quadrature Capital Ltd lifted its position in shares of Atara Biotherapeutics by 22.8% during the 4th quarter. Quadrature Capital Ltd now owns 20,321 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $368,000 after purchasing an additional 3,779 shares during the last quarter. Bridgeway Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings 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 valued at $591,000 after purchasing an additional 18,691 shares in the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP increased its stake in Atara Biotherapeutics by 28.4% in the fourth quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 148,632 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $2,689,000 after purchasing an additional 32,836 shares during the last quarter. Walleye Capital LLC purchased a new position in Atara Biotherapeutics in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $220,000. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC raised its holdings in Atara Biotherapeutics by 58.6% during the fourth quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 30,040 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $543,000 after purchasing an additional 11,104 shares in the last quarter. 70.90% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ATRA has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Canaccord Genuity Group set a $13.00 price objective on shares of Atara Biotherapeutics and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 8th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Atara Biotherapeutics from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, August 16th. Freedom Capital raised shares of Atara Biotherapeutics from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, May 18th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Atara Biotherapeutics from a “sell (e+)” rating to a “sell (d-)” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 18th. Finally, TD Cowen raised shares of Atara Biotherapeutics to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, August 24th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has issued a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Atara Biotherapeutics presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $9.50.

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.