Atara Biotherapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:ATRA) Short Interest Update

Atara Biotherapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:ATRA) was the recipient of a significant decline in short interest in the month of August. As of August 15th, there was short interest totalling 12,190,000 shares, a decline of 5.9% from the July 31st total of 12,950,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 1,770,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 6.9 days.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently commented on ATRA. HC Wainwright restated a “buy” rating and set a $28.00 price target (up previously from $27.00) on shares of Atara Biotherapeutics in a research report on Wednesday, June 14th. StockNews.com started coverage on shares of Atara Biotherapeutics in a research report on Thursday, August 17th. They issued a “sell” rating for the company.

Atara Biotherapeutics Stock Up 2.1 %

Shares of ATRA opened at $1.49 on Thursday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $1.85 and a 200 day moving average price of $2.45. The firm has a market capitalization of $150.64 million, a PE ratio of -0.50 and a beta of 1.00. Atara Biotherapeutics has a 52-week low of $1.25 and a 52-week high of $5.64.

Atara Biotherapeutics (NASDAQ:ATRA) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, August 8th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.68) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.65) by ($0.03). The company had revenue of $0.96 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.36 million. Atara Biotherapeutics had a negative net margin of 4,437.45% and a negative return on equity of 315.45%. On average, equities analysts expect that Atara Biotherapeutics will post -2.6 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Atara Biotherapeutics news, CEO Pascal Touchon sold 30,766 shares of Atara Biotherapeutics stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1.65, for a total value of $50,763.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 675,905 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,115,243.25. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders sold a total of 61,915 shares of company stock valued at $102,303 over the last 90 days. 4.50% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Atara Biotherapeutics

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of ATRA. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Atara Biotherapeutics in the 1st quarter valued at about $112,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its holdings in Atara Biotherapeutics by 1.9% in the 1st quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 315,267 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $2,929,000 after acquiring an additional 5,960 shares during the last quarter. AlphaCrest Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Atara Biotherapeutics by 77.7% in the 1st quarter. AlphaCrest Capital Management LLC now owns 21,300 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $198,000 after acquiring an additional 9,314 shares during the last quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in Atara Biotherapeutics by 56.9% in the 1st quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 46,683 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $434,000 after acquiring an additional 16,930 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in Atara Biotherapeutics by 9.5% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,340,251 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $12,451,000 after acquiring an additional 115,741 shares during the last quarter. 88.79% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Atara Biotherapeutics Company Profile

Atara Biotherapeutics, Inc develops therapies for patients with solid tumors, hematologic cancers, and autoimmune diseases in the United States. 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.