State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D Purchases 16,168 Shares of AtriCure, Inc. (NASDAQ:ATRC)

State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D grew its position in shares of AtriCure, Inc. (NASDAQ:ATRC) by 31.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 68,188 shares of the medical device company’s stock after purchasing an additional 16,168 shares during the quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D owned approximately 0.14% of AtriCure worth $2,434,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of ATRC. New York State Common Retirement Fund boosted its stake in AtriCure by 13.3% in the fourth quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 257,901 shares of the medical device company’s stock worth $9,204,000 after buying an additional 30,280 shares in the last quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB lifted its holdings in shares of AtriCure by 14.5% in the 4th quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 13,400 shares of the medical device company’s stock worth $478,000 after acquiring an additional 1,700 shares during the last quarter. Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of AtriCure by 165.8% during the 4th quarter. Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC now owns 123,540 shares of the medical device company’s stock valued at $4,409,000 after purchasing an additional 77,055 shares during the last quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank grew its holdings in shares of AtriCure by 27.1% during the 4th quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 12,524 shares of the medical device company’s stock valued at $447,000 after purchasing an additional 2,670 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mackenzie Financial Corp raised its position in AtriCure by 14.7% in the 4th quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 12,295 shares of the medical device company’s stock worth $439,000 after purchasing an additional 1,575 shares during the period. 99.11% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other AtriCure news, insider Justin J. Noznesky sold 1,500 shares of AtriCure stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $30.39, for a total transaction of $45,585.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 72,784 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,211,905.76. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other AtriCure news, insider Justin J. Noznesky sold 1,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $30.39, for a total value of $45,585.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 72,784 shares in the company, valued at $2,211,905.76. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Karl S. Dahlquist sold 1,885 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.16, for a total transaction of $60,621.60. Following the sale, the insider now owns 50,954 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,638,680.64. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 13,116 shares of company stock valued at $468,797 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ATRC has been the subject of several analyst reports. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of AtriCure from $57.00 to $58.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 16th. StockNews.com cut AtriCure from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 27th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and set a $46.00 price objective on shares of AtriCure in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their target price on shares of AtriCure from $50.00 to $42.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 16th. Finally, Oppenheimer upgraded shares of AtriCure from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $32.00 price target for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 23rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $52.63.

AtriCure Price Performance

ATRC opened at $24.76 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 2.66 and a current ratio of 3.57. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.20 billion, a PE ratio of -37.52 and a beta of 1.38. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $29.30 and its 200-day moving average price is $33.32. AtriCure, Inc. has a 52-week low of $22.07 and a 52-week high of $59.61.

AtriCure (NASDAQ:ATRC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 15th. The medical device company reported ($0.21) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.22) by $0.01. AtriCure had a negative net margin of 7.62% and a negative return on equity of 7.55%. The business had revenue of $106.50 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $103.68 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned ($0.09) EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 21.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts predict that AtriCure, Inc. will post -0.71 EPS for the current year.

About AtriCure

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.