Atara Biotherapeutics (NASDAQ:ATRA) Issues Earnings Results

Atara Biotherapeutics (NASDAQ:ATRA) released its earnings results on Monday. The biotechnology company reported ($0.25) earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $1.60 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $0.70 million.

Atara Biotherapeutics Stock Down 10.9%

Shares of ATRA stock opened at $5.23 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $5.68 and a 200-day moving average of $11.39. The company 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 52 week low of $3.92 and a 52 week high of $19.15.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently commented on ATRA. Canaccord Genuity Group reaffirmed a “hold” rating and issued a $6.00 price objective (down from $25.00) on shares of Atara Biotherapeutics in a research note on Tuesday, January 13th. Weiss Ratings restated 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 target 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 issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $6.00.

Insider Transactions at Atara Biotherapeutics

In related news, major shareholder Innovation Ltd Panacea sold 80,554 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, January 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $6.07, for a total transaction of $488,962.78. Following 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 4.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Atara Biotherapeutics

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Atara Biotherapeutics by 6.6% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 203,438 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $2,915,000 after buying an additional 12,677 shares during the period. Marshall Wace LLP raised its stake in Atara Biotherapeutics by 28.4% during the 4th quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 148,632 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $2,689,000 after buying an additional 32,836 shares during the period. Mackenzie Financial Corp boosted its holdings in Atara Biotherapeutics by 183.5% in the third quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 63,816 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $914,000 after acquiring an additional 41,302 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Atara Biotherapeutics by 2.5% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 60,136 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $464,000 after acquiring an additional 1,457 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bridgeway Capital Management LLC grew its stake 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 acquiring an additional 18,691 shares during the period. 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.