Atara Biotherapeutics (NASDAQ:ATRA) Posts Quarterly Earnings Results, Beats Estimates By $0.43 EPS

Atara Biotherapeutics (NASDAQ:ATRA) announced its earnings results on Monday. The biotechnology company reported ($0.25) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.68) by $0.43, Zacks reports. Atara Biotherapeutics had a net margin of 27.07% and a negative return on equity of 77.37%. The company had revenue of $1.60 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $0.70 million.

Atara Biotherapeutics Stock Performance

NASDAQ:ATRA opened at $5.23 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $37.71 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 1.68 and a beta of -0.44. Atara Biotherapeutics has a 1 year low of $3.92 and a 1 year high of $19.15. The business has a fifty day moving average of $5.68 and a 200-day moving average of $11.39.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, major shareholder Innovation Ltd Panacea sold 80,554 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $6.07, for a total value of $488,962.78. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 1,324,446 shares in the company, valued at $8,039,387.22. This represents a 5.73% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 4.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Atara Biotherapeutics

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Atara Biotherapeutics by 2.5% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 60,136 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $464,000 after purchasing an additional 1,457 shares during the period. Quadrature Capital Ltd boosted its position in shares of Atara Biotherapeutics by 22.8% in the fourth quarter. Quadrature Capital Ltd now owns 20,321 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $368,000 after buying an additional 3,779 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in Atara Biotherapeutics during the second quarter valued at $31,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP purchased a new stake in Atara Biotherapeutics in the 4th quarter worth about $181,000. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC lifted its stake in Atara Biotherapeutics by 58.6% in 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. 70.90% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently commented on ATRA. Canaccord Genuity Group reissued a “hold” rating and set a $6.00 target price (down from $25.00) on shares of Atara Biotherapeutics in a research report on Tuesday, January 13th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Atara Biotherapeutics in a report on Monday, December 29th. Finally, New Street Research set a $6.00 price objective on shares of Atara Biotherapeutics in a research report on Tuesday, January 13th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $6.00.

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.