Atara Biotherapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:ATRA) Short Interest Down 7.4% in April

Atara Biotherapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:ATRA – Get Rating) was the recipient of a large drop in short interest in April. As of April 30th, there was short interest totalling 17,790,000 shares, a drop of 7.4% from the April 15th total of 19,210,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 1,290,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 13.8 days.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Pascal Touchon sold 15,679 shares of Atara Biotherapeutics stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $3.63, for a total value of $56,914.77. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 750,728 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,725,142.64. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 31,845 shares of company stock valued at $115,597. 4.50% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Atara Biotherapeutics

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC boosted its position in Atara Biotherapeutics by 334.0% during the first quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 9,041 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 6,958 shares during the period. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC boosted its position in Atara Biotherapeutics by 893.8% during the third quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 6,460 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 5,810 shares during the period. US Bancorp DE boosted its position in Atara Biotherapeutics by 6,394.9% during the third quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 7,664 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 7,546 shares during the period. First Republic Investment Management Inc. bought a new stake in Atara Biotherapeutics during the third quarter worth approximately $38,000. Finally, Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank boosted its position in Atara Biotherapeutics by 27.5% during the fourth quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 13,469 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $44,000 after purchasing an additional 2,909 shares during the period.

Atara Biotherapeutics Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ ATRA opened at $2.20 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $215.54 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -1.06 and a beta of 0.96. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $2.82 and a 200 day simple moving average of $3.72. Atara Biotherapeutics has a 52 week low of $2.10 and a 52 week high of $9.34.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have weighed in on ATRA. HC Wainwright lowered their target price on Atara Biotherapeutics from $29.00 to $27.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 9th. Mizuho reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $31.00 target price on shares of Atara Biotherapeutics in a research note on Tuesday, February 7th. StockNews.com cut Atara Biotherapeutics from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 11th. Finally, EF Hutton Acquisition Co. I reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $25.00 target price on shares of Atara Biotherapeutics in a research note on Thursday, February 9th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Atara Biotherapeutics presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $19.25.

About Atara Biotherapeutics

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Atara Biotherapeutics, Inc is an allogeneic T-cell immunotherapy company, which engages in the development of transformative therapies for patients with serious diseases including solid tumors, hematologic cancers, and autoimmune diseases. It also delivers off-the-shelf treatments to patients with high unmet medical need.