AtriCure (NASDAQ:ATRC) Rating Lowered to Sell at StockNews.com

AtriCure (NASDAQ:ATRC) was downgraded by research analysts at StockNews.com from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Wednesday.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price objective on shares of AtriCure from $50.00 to $42.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 16th. JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and issued a $60.00 price target on shares of AtriCure in a research note on Wednesday, November 29th. Needham & Company LLC raised their target price on AtriCure from $44.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 16th. Finally, UBS Group raised their target price on AtriCure from $57.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 16th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $55.57.

AtriCure Price Performance

NASDAQ:ATRC opened at $30.42 on Wednesday. AtriCure has a one year low of $27.92 and a one year high of $59.61. The company has a market cap of $1.47 billion, a P/E ratio of -46.09 and a beta of 1.39. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $33.33 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $36.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 3.57 and a quick ratio of 2.66.

AtriCure (NASDAQ:ATRC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The medical device company reported ($0.21) EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.22) by $0.01. AtriCure had a negative net margin of 7.62% and a negative return on equity of 7.55%. The business had revenue of $106.50 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $103.68 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted ($0.09) earnings per share. AtriCure’s revenue was up 21.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts expect that AtriCure will post -0.71 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Justin J. Noznesky sold 1,500 shares of AtriCure stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.72, for a total transaction of $55,080.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 74,284 shares in the company, valued at $2,727,708.48. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other AtriCure news, insider Karl S. Dahlquist sold 8,231 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $37.36, for a total value of $307,510.16. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 52,839 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,974,065.04. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Justin J. Noznesky sold 1,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.72, for a total value of $55,080.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 74,284 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,727,708.48. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 11,616 shares of company stock worth $423,212. 3.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AtriCure

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in ATRC. Invesco Ltd. grew its position in shares of AtriCure by 17.5% in the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,865,409 shares of the medical device company’s stock valued at $188,171,000 after purchasing an additional 427,792 shares in the last quarter. First Light Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of AtriCure by 35.8% in the first quarter. First Light Asset Management LLC now owns 1,364,812 shares of the medical device company’s stock valued at $89,627,000 after purchasing an additional 359,823 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of AtriCure in the fourth quarter valued at $15,621,000. Nuveen Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of AtriCure by 41.2% in the second quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 981,165 shares of the medical device company’s stock valued at $48,430,000 after purchasing an additional 286,481 shares in the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its position in shares of AtriCure by 366.4% in the second quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 342,987 shares of the medical device company’s stock valued at $16,930,000 after purchasing an additional 269,454 shares in the last quarter. 99.11% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

AtriCure Company Profile

AtriCure, Inc develops, manufactures, and sells devices for surgical ablation of cardiac tissue, exclusion of the left atrial appendage, and temporarily blocking pain by ablating peripheral nerves to medical centers in the United States, Europe, the Asia-Pacific, and internationally. The company offers Isolator Synergy Clamps, single-use disposable radio frequency products; multifunctional pens and linear ablation devices, such as the MAX Pen device that enables surgeons to evaluate cardiac arrhythmias, perform temporary cardiac pacing, sensing, and stimulation, and ablate cardiac tissue with the same device; and the Coolrail device, which enables users to make longer linear lines of ablation.