Atara Biotherapeutics (NASDAQ:ATRA) Given “Hold” Rating at Canaccord Genuity Group

Canaccord Genuity Group restated their hold rating on shares of Atara Biotherapeutics (NASDAQ:ATRA) in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday morning, Marketbeat.com reports. They currently have a $6.00 target price on the biotechnology company’s stock, down from their prior target price of $25.00.

Separately, Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Atara Biotherapeutics in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Reduce” and an average price target of $6.00.

Atara Biotherapeutics Price Performance

Shares of Atara Biotherapeutics stock opened at $4.37 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $31.51 million, a P/E ratio of 2.00 and a beta of -0.41. The business has a 50-day moving average of $14.87 and a two-hundred day moving average of $13.21. Atara Biotherapeutics has a 1 year low of $4.25 and a 1 year high of $19.15.

Atara Biotherapeutics (NASDAQ:ATRA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 12th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.32) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.83) by $0.51. The business had revenue of $3.45 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.74 million. Atara Biotherapeutics had a negative return on equity of 41.78% and a net margin of 15.40%. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Atara Biotherapeutics will post -10.39 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Atara Biotherapeutics

In other news, CEO Anhco Nguyen sold 2,915 shares of Atara Biotherapeutics stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $13.19, for a total value of $38,448.85. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 64,974 shares in the company, valued at $857,007.06. This trade represents a 4.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 6,523 shares of company stock worth $86,038. 4.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in Atara Biotherapeutics in the 2nd quarter valued at $31,000. GSA Capital Partners LLP increased its position in shares of Atara Biotherapeutics by 33.8% in the third quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP now owns 26,213 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $376,000 after acquiring an additional 6,622 shares during the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP acquired a new stake in shares of Atara Biotherapeutics in the second quarter valued at about $327,000. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Atara Biotherapeutics by 2.5% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 60,136 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $464,000 after acquiring an additional 1,457 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mackenzie Financial Corp boosted its position in Atara Biotherapeutics by 183.5% during the third quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 63,816 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $914,000 after purchasing an additional 41,302 shares during the last quarter. 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.