Brian Cherry Acquires 104,166 Shares of Atara Biotherapeutics (NASDAQ:ATRA) Stock

Atara Biotherapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:ATRA) Director Brian Cherry bought 104,166 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 4th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $9.60 per share, with a total value of $999,993.60. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 166,486 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,598,265.60. This trade represents a 167.15% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link.

Atara Biotherapeutics Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:ATRA opened at $9.76 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $97.99 million, a P/E ratio of -8.27 and a beta of 0.10. Atara Biotherapeutics, Inc. has a one year low of $3.92 and a one year high of $19.15. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $9.14 and its 200 day simple moving average is $7.75.

Atara Biotherapeutics (NASDAQ:ATRA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 12th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.32) earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.32). Atara Biotherapeutics had a negative return on equity of 79.12% and a negative net margin of 269.42%.The firm had revenue of $0.63 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $0.55 million. Analysts predict that Atara Biotherapeutics, Inc. will post -0.22 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently weighed in on ATRA. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Atara Biotherapeutics from a “sell (e+)” rating to a “sell (d-)” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 18th. TD Cowen raised shares of Atara Biotherapeutics to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, August 24th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Atara Biotherapeutics from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, August 16th. Finally, Freedom Capital raised Atara Biotherapeutics from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, May 18th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has assigned a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Atara Biotherapeutics presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $9.50.

Institutional Trading of Atara Biotherapeutics

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Atara Biotherapeutics by 2.5% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 60,136 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $464,000 after acquiring an additional 1,457 shares in the last quarter. Quadrature Capital Ltd grew its holdings 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 in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in Atara Biotherapeutics during the 2nd quarter worth $31,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP bought a new stake in shares of Atara Biotherapeutics in the 4th quarter worth about $181,000. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC increased its position in shares of Atara Biotherapeutics by 58.6% in the 4th quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 30,040 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $543,000 after purchasing an additional 11,104 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.90% of the company’s stock.

Atara Biotherapeutics Company Profile

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.