Atara Biotherapeutics (NASDAQ:ATRA) Lowered to Sell Rating by Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Atara Biotherapeutics (NASDAQ:ATRA) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a report released on Saturday morning.

Several other equities analysts have also weighed in on the stock. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Atara Biotherapeutics in a report on Monday, December 29th. New Street Research set a $6.00 price target on shares of Atara Biotherapeutics in a report on Tuesday, January 13th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group restated a “hold” rating and set a $6.00 price target (down from $25.00) on shares of Atara Biotherapeutics in a research report on Tuesday, January 13th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $6.00.

Atara Biotherapeutics Stock Down 4.1%

Atara Biotherapeutics stock opened at $4.91 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $5.06 and its 200 day moving average price is $11.24. The firm has a market cap of $40.16 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 1.57 and a beta of -0.44. Atara Biotherapeutics has a 52 week low of $3.92 and a 52 week high of $19.15.

Atara Biotherapeutics (NASDAQ:ATRA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, March 16th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.25) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.68) by $0.43. Atara Biotherapeutics had a negative return on equity of 79.12% and a net margin of 27.07%.The company had revenue of $1.60 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $0.70 million. Equities analysts expect that Atara Biotherapeutics will post -10.39 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Atara Biotherapeutics

In other news, major shareholder Innovation Ltd Panacea sold 80,554 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $6.07, for a total transaction of $488,962.78. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 1,324,446 shares of the company’s stock, 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 through this link. 4.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Atara Biotherapeutics

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in Atara Biotherapeutics during the second quarter valued at $31,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP purchased a new stake in shares of Atara Biotherapeutics during the fourth quarter worth about $181,000. Walleye Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Atara Biotherapeutics during the fourth quarter worth about $220,000. Marshall Wace LLP acquired a new position in shares of Atara Biotherapeutics during the 2nd quarter worth about $327,000. Finally, Quadrature Capital Ltd raised 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. 70.90% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.