Atara Biotherapeutics (NASDAQ:ATRA) Posts Quarterly Earnings Results, Beats Expectations By $0.51 EPS

Atara Biotherapeutics (NASDAQ:ATRA) posted its earnings results on Wednesday. The biotechnology company reported ($0.32) EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.83) by $0.51, Zacks reports. Atara Biotherapeutics had a net margin of 3.07% and a negative return on equity of 8.34%.

Atara Biotherapeutics Price Performance

Shares of Atara Biotherapeutics stock traded down $0.42 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $12.14. 75,320 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 97,328. The stock has a market capitalization of $85.23 million, a P/E ratio of -28.13 and a beta of 0.26. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $13.63 and a 200-day simple moving average of $10.86. Atara Biotherapeutics has a 1 year low of $5.01 and a 1 year high of $18.70.

Insider Activity at Atara Biotherapeutics

In other news, major shareholder Innovation Ltd Panacea acquired 55,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 15th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $12.19 per share, with a total value of $670,450.00. Following the acquisition, the insider directly owned 1,405,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $17,126,950. The trade was a 4.07% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 4.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Atara Biotherapeutics

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ATRA. Marshall Wace LLP acquired a new position in shares of Atara Biotherapeutics in the 2nd quarter valued at about $327,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Atara Biotherapeutics by 6.6% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 203,438 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $2,915,000 after purchasing an additional 12,677 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in Atara Biotherapeutics during the second quarter worth $31,000. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Atara Biotherapeutics by 2.5% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 60,136 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $464,000 after purchasing an additional 1,457 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.90% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, Weiss Ratings cut shares of Atara Biotherapeutics from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research report on Friday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have assigned a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Atara Biotherapeutics has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $21.00.

About Atara Biotherapeutics

Atara Biotherapeutics, Inc engages in the development of transformative therapies for patients with solid tumors, hematologic cancers, and autoimmune diseases in the United States and the United Kingdom. Its lead product includes Tab-cel (tabelecleucel), a T-cell immunotherapy program that is in Phase 3 clinical trials for the treatment of epstein-barr virus (EBV) driven post-transplant lymphoproliferative disease, as well as nasopharyngeal carcinoma.