Atara Biotherapeutics (NASDAQ:ATRA) Downgraded by Wall Street Zen to “Sell”

Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Atara Biotherapeutics (NASDAQ:ATRA) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research report report published on Saturday.

Several other equities research analysts also recently commented on the stock. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Atara Biotherapeutics from a “sell (d-)” rating to a “sell (e+)” rating in a research report on Friday, July 31st. Freedom Capital raised shares of Atara Biotherapeutics from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, May 18th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group set a $13.00 target price on Atara Biotherapeutics and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $9.50.

Atara Biotherapeutics Price Performance

Atara Biotherapeutics stock opened at $8.45 on Friday. Atara Biotherapeutics has a 12-month low of $3.92 and a 12-month high of $19.15. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $9.53 and a 200-day simple moving average of $7.15. The stock has a market capitalization of $76.13 million, a PE ratio of -12.61 and a beta of 0.12.

Atara Biotherapeutics (NASDAQ:ATRA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 12th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.29) earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.33) by $0.04. Atara Biotherapeutics had a negative return on equity of 79.12% and a negative net margin of 40.91%.The business had revenue of $0.52 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.90 million. On average, analysts forecast that Atara Biotherapeutics will post -0.16 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Atara Biotherapeutics

In other news, CEO Anhco Nguyen sold 5,241 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $9.13, for a total value of $47,850.33. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 137,837 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,258,451.81. This represents a 3.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. 41.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in Atara Biotherapeutics in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP acquired a new stake in shares of Atara Biotherapeutics during the 4th quarter valued at $181,000. Walleye Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Atara Biotherapeutics during the 4th quarter valued at $220,000. Quadrature Capital Ltd grew its holdings 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 valued at $368,000 after acquiring an additional 3,779 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC grew its holdings 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 valued at $543,000 after acquiring an additional 11,104 shares in the last quarter. 70.90% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.