Atara Biotherapeutics (NASDAQ:ATRA) Share Price Crosses Above 50-Day Moving Average – Time to Sell?

Atara Biotherapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:ATRA)’s stock price passed above its fifty day moving average during trading on Friday . The stock has a fifty day moving average of $8.98 and traded as high as $10.00. Atara Biotherapeutics shares last traded at $9.38, with a volume of 16,024 shares changing hands.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on ATRA. Freedom Capital raised shares of Atara Biotherapeutics from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, May 18th. Wall Street Zen raised Atara Biotherapeutics from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, August 16th. TD Cowen raised Atara Biotherapeutics to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, August 24th. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised shares of Atara Biotherapeutics from a “sell (e+)” rating to a “sell (d-)” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 18th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has assigned a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Atara Biotherapeutics currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $9.50.

Atara Biotherapeutics Stock Down 5.2%

The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $8.98 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $7.94. The company has a market cap of $94.16 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -7.95 and a beta of 0.10.

Atara Biotherapeutics (NASDAQ:ATRA) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 12th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.32) EPS for the quarter, meeting 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, equities analysts expect that Atara Biotherapeutics, Inc. will post -0.22 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Atara Biotherapeutics

In other Atara Biotherapeutics news, Director Brian N. Cherry acquired 104,166 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 4th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $9.60 per share, with a total value of $999,993.60. Following the completion of the purchase, the director owned 166,486 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,598,265.60. This represents a 167.15% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Anhco Nguyen sold 5,062 shares of Atara Biotherapeutics stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $8.08, for a total value of $40,900.96. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 132,775 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,072,822. The trade was a 3.67% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 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 Investors Weigh In On Atara Biotherapeutics

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of ATRA. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in Atara Biotherapeutics in the 2nd quarter worth about $31,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP purchased a new position in Atara Biotherapeutics in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $181,000. Walleye Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Atara Biotherapeutics during the fourth quarter worth $220,000. Marshall Wace LLP bought a new position in shares of Atara Biotherapeutics in the second quarter worth $327,000. Finally, Quadrature Capital Ltd lifted its holdings in 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 in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.90% of the company’s stock.

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.