Insider Selling: Atara Biotherapeutics (NASDAQ:ATRA) Major Shareholder Sells 313,446 Shares of Stock

Atara Biotherapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:ATRA) major shareholder Innovation Ltd Panacea sold 313,446 shares of Atara Biotherapeutics stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $10.10, for a total transaction of $3,165,804.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 1,011,000 shares in the company, valued at $10,211,100. This trade represents a 23.67% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Major shareholders that own 10% or more of a company’s stock are required to disclose their transactions with the SEC.

Atara Biotherapeutics Trading Up 5.3%

ATRA traded up $0.44 during trading on Monday, hitting $8.78. The stock had a trading volume of 868,948 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,236,119. The firm has a market cap of $74.72 million, a PE ratio of 2.81 and a beta of -0.30. Atara Biotherapeutics, Inc. has a 12 month low of $3.92 and a 12 month high of $19.15. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $5.25 and a 200-day simple moving average of $9.32.

Atara Biotherapeutics (NASDAQ:ATRA) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, March 16th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.25) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.68) by $0.43. Atara Biotherapeutics had a net margin of 27.07% and a negative return on equity of 79.12%. The company had revenue of $1.60 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $0.70 million. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Atara Biotherapeutics, Inc. will post 0.2 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently issued reports on ATRA. Canaccord Genuity Group set a $13.00 price objective on shares of Atara Biotherapeutics and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Atara Biotherapeutics from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, March 21st. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Atara Biotherapeutics in a report on Friday, March 27th. Finally, New Street Research set a $6.00 price objective on shares of Atara Biotherapeutics in a report on Tuesday, January 13th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $9.50.

Institutional Trading of Atara Biotherapeutics

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ATRA. Globeflex Capital L P increased its stake in Atara Biotherapeutics by 399.6% in the fourth quarter. Globeflex Capital L P now owns 77,224 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $1,397,000 after acquiring an additional 61,766 shares during the period. Marshall Wace LLP bought a new stake in Atara Biotherapeutics in the second quarter valued at about $327,000. Mackenzie Financial Corp increased its stake in Atara Biotherapeutics by 183.5% in the third quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 63,816 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $914,000 after acquiring an additional 41,302 shares during the period. Bridgeway Capital Management LLC increased 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. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Atara Biotherapeutics by 6.6% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 203,438 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $2,915,000 after acquiring an additional 12,677 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.