Atara Biotherapeutics (NASDAQ:ATRA) Upgraded to Hold at Freedom Capital

Freedom Capital upgraded shares of Atara Biotherapeutics (NASDAQ:ATRA) from a strong sell rating to a hold rating in a report published on Monday morning,Zacks.com reports.

ATRA has been the topic of a number of other reports. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Atara Biotherapeutics in a report on Friday, March 27th. Wall Street Zen raised Atara Biotherapeutics from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group set a $13.00 price target on Atara Biotherapeutics and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $9.50.

Atara Biotherapeutics Stock Performance

Shares of ATRA opened at $9.15 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $82.44 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -13.66 and a beta of -0.30. Atara Biotherapeutics has a one year low of $3.92 and a one year high of $19.15. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $5.84 and its 200-day moving average is $9.03.

Atara Biotherapeutics (NASDAQ:ATRA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 12th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.29) EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.33) by $0.04. The company had revenue of $0.52 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.90 million. Atara Biotherapeutics had a negative return on equity of 79.12% and a negative net margin of 40.91%. Analysts forecast that Atara Biotherapeutics will post 0.2 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Atara Biotherapeutics news, major shareholder Innovation Ltd Panacea sold 313,446 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the insider directly owned 1,011,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,211,100. This trade represents a 23.67% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 41.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Atara Biotherapeutics

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in Atara Biotherapeutics during the 2nd quarter worth about $31,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP acquired a new stake in Atara Biotherapeutics during the 4th quarter worth about $181,000. Walleye Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Atara Biotherapeutics during the 4th quarter worth about $220,000. Quadrature Capital Ltd boosted its position 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 acquiring an additional 3,779 shares during the period. Finally, GSA Capital Partners LLP boosted its position in Atara Biotherapeutics by 33.8% during the 3rd quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP now owns 26,213 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $376,000 after acquiring an additional 6,622 shares during the period. 70.90% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.