Short Interest in Atara Biotherapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:ATRA) Declines By 6.1%

Atara Biotherapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:ATRA) was the target of a significant drop in short interest in the month of July. As of July 15th, there was short interest totalling 540,000 shares, a drop of 6.1% from the June 30th total of 575,300 shares. Currently, 13.4% of the company’s shares are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 80,100 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 6.7 days.

Atara Biotherapeutics Stock Down 8.1 %

Atara Biotherapeutics stock traded down $0.84 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $9.56. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 22,226 shares, compared to its average volume of 94,654. Atara Biotherapeutics has a fifty-two week low of $4.96 and a fifty-two week high of $63.38. The company has a market cap of $46.08 million, a P/E ratio of -0.18 and a beta of 0.52. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $11.36 and a 200-day simple moving average of $15.57.

Atara Biotherapeutics (NASDAQ:ATRA) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 9th. The biotechnology company reported ($5.75) earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($9.25) by $3.50. The business had revenue of $27.36 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $27.00 million. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Atara Biotherapeutics will post -15.75 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on ATRA shares. StockNews.com started coverage on Atara Biotherapeutics in a report on Wednesday, June 26th. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price target on Atara Biotherapeutics from $12.50 to $11.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. Finally, HC Wainwright restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Atara Biotherapeutics in a research note on Wednesday, May 22nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and four have assigned a hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $355.50.

Insider Transactions at Atara Biotherapeutics

In other news, EVP Anhco Nguyen sold 1,715 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $15.50, for a total transaction of $26,582.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 35,939 shares in the company, valued at $557,054.50. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other news, EVP Anhco Nguyen sold 1,715 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $15.50, for a total transaction of $26,582.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 35,939 shares in the company, valued at $557,054.50. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Pascal Touchon sold 3,260 shares of Atara Biotherapeutics stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $15.50, for a total value of $50,530.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 73,165 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,134,057.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 6,120 shares of company stock worth $94,860 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 3.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Atara Biotherapeutics

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Redmile Group LLC increased its position in shares of Atara Biotherapeutics by 1.7% during the first quarter. Redmile Group LLC now owns 9,263,309 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $6,429,000 after purchasing an additional 156,863 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its position in shares of Atara Biotherapeutics by 8,916.3% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 4,958,150 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $3,442,000 after purchasing an additional 4,903,159 shares in the last quarter. Delap Wealth Advisory LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Atara Biotherapeutics during the first quarter worth about $29,000. Acadian Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of Atara Biotherapeutics by 49.5% during the first quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 2,638,687 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $1,830,000 after purchasing an additional 873,133 shares in the last quarter. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets increased its position in shares of Atara Biotherapeutics by 29.3% during the first quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 383,082 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $266,000 after purchasing an additional 86,842 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.90% of the company’s stock.

About Atara Biotherapeutics

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.