AtriCure (NASDAQ:ATRC) Downgraded to Sell at StockNews.com

StockNews.com downgraded shares of AtriCure (NASDAQ:ATRC) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research note released on Wednesday.

A number of other brokerages have also issued reports on ATRC. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of AtriCure from $57.00 to $58.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Friday, February 16th. Needham & Company LLC increased their price objective on shares of AtriCure from $44.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Friday, February 16th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price objective on shares of AtriCure from $50.00 to $42.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 16th. Finally, JMP Securities reiterated a market outperform rating and set a $60.00 price objective on shares of AtriCure in a research note on Wednesday, November 29th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $55.57.

AtriCure Stock Up 3.6 %

Shares of AtriCure stock opened at $30.14 on Wednesday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $33.38 and a 200 day moving average price of $36.25. The company has a current ratio of 3.57, a quick ratio of 2.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. AtriCure has a twelve month low of $27.92 and a twelve month high of $59.61. The stock has a market cap of $1.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -45.67 and a beta of 1.39.

AtriCure (NASDAQ:ATRC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The medical device company reported ($0.21) earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.22) by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $106.50 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $103.68 million. AtriCure had a negative net margin of 7.62% and a negative return on equity of 7.55%. The firm’s revenue was up 21.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned ($0.09) EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that AtriCure will post -0.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other AtriCure news, insider Karl S. Dahlquist sold 8,231 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $37.36, for a total value of $307,510.16. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 52,839 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,974,065.04. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other AtriCure news, insider Karl S. Dahlquist sold 1,885 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.16, for a total value of $60,621.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 50,954 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,638,680.64. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Karl S. Dahlquist sold 8,231 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $37.36, for a total transaction of $307,510.16. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 52,839 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,974,065.04. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 11,616 shares of company stock worth $423,212 over the last quarter. 3.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of AtriCure

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in AtriCure by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,766,029 shares of the medical device company’s stock worth $170,100,000 after buying an additional 76,146 shares in the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. boosted its holdings in AtriCure by 1.5% during the second quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 3,914,792 shares of the medical device company’s stock worth $193,234,000 after buying an additional 58,501 shares in the last quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. lifted its position in shares of AtriCure by 2.8% in the 2nd quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 3,209,989 shares of the medical device company’s stock valued at $158,445,000 after acquiring an additional 86,485 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in shares of AtriCure by 17.5% in the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,865,409 shares of the medical device company’s stock valued at $188,171,000 after acquiring an additional 427,792 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Macquarie Group Ltd. lifted its position in shares of AtriCure by 2.4% in the 1st quarter. Macquarie Group Ltd. now owns 1,409,302 shares of the medical device company’s stock valued at $58,416,000 after acquiring an additional 33,348 shares in the last quarter. 99.11% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

AtriCure Company Profile

AtriCure, Inc develops, manufactures, and sells devices for surgical ablation of cardiac tissue, exclusion of the left atrial appendage, and temporarily blocking pain by ablating peripheral nerves to medical centers in the United States, Europe, the Asia-Pacific, and internationally. The company offers Isolator Synergy Clamps, single-use disposable radio frequency products; multifunctional pens and linear ablation devices, such as the MAX Pen device that enables surgeons to evaluate cardiac arrhythmias, perform temporary cardiac pacing, sensing, and stimulation, and ablate cardiac tissue with the same device; and the Coolrail device, which enables users to make longer linear lines of ablation.