Atara Biotherapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:ATRA) Short Interest Up 78.5% in May

Atara Biotherapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:ATRA) was the target of a significant growth in short interest during the month of May. As of May 15th, there was short interest totaling 546,470 shares, a growth of 78.5% from the April 30th total of 306,093 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 7,386,437 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 0.1 days. Currently, 10.3% of the shares of the company are sold short.

Insider Buying and Selling at Atara Biotherapeutics

In related news, major shareholder Innovation Ltd Panacea sold 313,446 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $10.10, for a total value of $3,165,804.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 1,011,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,211,100. This trade represents a 23.67% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Anhco Nguyen sold 5,241 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $9.13, for a total value of $47,850.33. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 137,837 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,258,451.81. The trade was a 3.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 321,101 shares of company stock worth $3,235,695. Corporate insiders own 41.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Atara Biotherapeutics

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ATRA. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Atara Biotherapeutics in the second quarter worth $31,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP bought a new stake in Atara Biotherapeutics in the 4th quarter valued at $181,000. Walleye Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Atara Biotherapeutics in the 4th quarter worth $220,000. Marshall Wace LLP bought a new position in shares of Atara Biotherapeutics during the 2nd quarter valued at about $327,000. Finally, Quadrature Capital Ltd boosted its holdings in shares of Atara Biotherapeutics by 22.8% during the 4th quarter. Quadrature Capital Ltd now owns 20,321 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $368,000 after purchasing an additional 3,779 shares during the last quarter. 70.90% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Atara Biotherapeutics Stock Down 2.2%

Shares of NASDAQ ATRA opened at $10.28 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $92.62 million, a P/E ratio of -15.34 and a beta of 0.10. Atara Biotherapeutics has a twelve month low of $3.92 and a twelve month high of $19.15. The company has a 50 day moving average of $6.66 and a 200 day moving average of $8.84.

Atara Biotherapeutics (NASDAQ:ATRA) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, May 12th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.29) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.33) by $0.04. Atara Biotherapeutics had a negative net margin of 40.91% and a negative return on equity of 79.12%. The business had revenue of $0.52 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.90 million. As a group, equities analysts expect that Atara Biotherapeutics will post 0.2 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have commented on the company. Wall Street Zen raised Atara Biotherapeutics from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 16th. Freedom Capital raised Atara Biotherapeutics from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, May 18th. Canaccord Genuity Group set a $13.00 target price on shares of Atara Biotherapeutics and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 8th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Atara Biotherapeutics in a report on Friday, March 27th. One 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Atara Biotherapeutics has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $9.50.

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.