The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company Trims Stock Holdings in AtriCure, Inc. (NASDAQ:ATRC)

The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company reduced its holdings in shares of AtriCure, Inc. (NASDAQ:ATRC) by 28.2% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 17,901 shares of the medical device company’s stock after selling 7,018 shares during the quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company’s holdings in AtriCure were worth $502,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of ATRC. Arizona State Retirement System lifted its position in shares of AtriCure by 4.0% during the second quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 13,542 shares of the medical device company’s stock worth $308,000 after acquiring an additional 517 shares in the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can boosted its stake in AtriCure by 4.0% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 21,441 shares of the medical device company’s stock worth $488,000 after purchasing an additional 831 shares during the period. Arcadia Investment Management Corp MI purchased a new position in AtriCure during the 3rd quarter valued at about $28,000. Comerica Bank increased its position in shares of AtriCure by 70.5% during the first quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 2,522 shares of the medical device company’s stock valued at $77,000 after buying an additional 1,043 shares during the period. Finally, Quest Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of AtriCure by 38.3% in the second quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 5,868 shares of the medical device company’s stock worth $134,000 after buying an additional 1,626 shares in the last quarter. 99.11% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Canaccord Genuity Group upped their target price on shares of AtriCure from $53.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on AtriCure from $32.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. UBS Group boosted their target price on AtriCure from $35.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Needham & Company LLC raised their price target on AtriCure from $34.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on AtriCure from $30.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $42.00.

AtriCure Stock Down 3.4 %

Shares of NASDAQ ATRC opened at $31.67 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.54 billion, a P/E ratio of -38.16 and a beta of 1.40. AtriCure, Inc. has a one year low of $18.94 and a one year high of $39.04. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $32.93 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $27.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 3.62 and a quick ratio of 2.59.

AtriCure (NASDAQ:ATRC) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The medical device company reported ($0.17) EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.19) by $0.02. AtriCure had a negative net margin of 8.70% and a negative return on equity of 8.12%. The company had revenue of $115.91 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $112.23 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned ($0.20) EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 17.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that AtriCure, Inc. will post -0.72 EPS for the current fiscal year.

About AtriCure

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.