Atara Biotherapeutics (NASDAQ:ATRA) CEO Sells $40,900.96 in Stock

Atara Biotherapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:ATRA) CEO Anhco Nguyen sold 5,062 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $8.08, for a total transaction of $40,900.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 132,775 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,072,822. The trade was a 3.67% decrease in their position. 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.

Atara Biotherapeutics Stock Performance

Shares of ATRA stock opened at $9.20 on Friday. Atara Biotherapeutics, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $3.92 and a fifty-two week high of $19.15. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $9.27 and a 200 day moving average price of $7.58. The stock has a market capitalization of $92.37 million, a P/E ratio of -7.80 and a beta of 0.12.

Atara Biotherapeutics (NASDAQ:ATRA) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, August 12th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.32) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.32). Atara Biotherapeutics had a negative net margin of 269.42% and a negative return on equity of 79.12%. The company had revenue of $0.63 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $0.55 million. On average, research analysts forecast that Atara Biotherapeutics, Inc. will post -0.16 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Atara Biotherapeutics

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in Atara Biotherapeutics in the second quarter valued at $31,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP acquired a new position in shares of Atara Biotherapeutics during the 4th quarter worth about $181,000. Walleye Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Atara Biotherapeutics in the 4th quarter valued at about $220,000. Quadrature Capital Ltd increased its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 3,779 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC raised its position in shares of Atara Biotherapeutics by 58.6% during the 4th quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 30,040 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $543,000 after acquiring an additional 11,104 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.90% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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