AtriCure (NASDAQ:ATRC) Sets New 1-Year Low on Disappointing Earnings

AtriCure, Inc. (NASDAQ:ATRC) reached a new 52-week low on Thursday after the company announced weaker than expected quarterly earnings. The company traded as low as $20.19 and last traded at $21.03, with a volume of 331213 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $24.76.

The medical device company reported ($0.25) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.23) by ($0.02). AtriCure had a negative net margin of 8.98% and a negative return on equity of 7.82%. The company had revenue of $108.90 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $106.86 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted ($0.23) EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 16.5% on a year-over-year basis.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently weighed in on ATRC shares. StockNews.com lowered AtriCure from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 27th. Oppenheimer upgraded shares of AtriCure from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $32.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 23rd. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price objective on shares of AtriCure from $50.00 to $42.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 16th. UBS Group lifted their target price 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. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on shares of AtriCure from $42.00 to $34.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $49.78.

Insider Activity

In other AtriCure news, insider Karl S. Dahlquist sold 8,231 shares of the business’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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 52,839 shares in the company, valued at $1,974,065.04. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. In related news, insider Karl S. Dahlquist sold 8,231 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $37.36, for a total transaction of $307,510.16. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 52,839 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,974,065.04. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Justin J. Noznesky sold 1,500 shares of AtriCure stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.72, for a total value of $55,080.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 74,284 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,727,708.48. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 14,616 shares of company stock worth $504,932. Corporate insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AtriCure

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ATRC. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in AtriCure by 1.6% during the 4th 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. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in shares of AtriCure by 7.8% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,329,457 shares of the medical device company’s stock worth $47,448,000 after acquiring an additional 95,824 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in shares of AtriCure by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,001,161 shares of the medical device company’s stock valued at $35,734,000 after acquiring an additional 9,176 shares during the period. TimesSquare Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of AtriCure by 7.9% during the fourth quarter. TimesSquare Capital Management LLC now owns 976,110 shares of the medical device company’s stock valued at $34,837,000 after acquiring an additional 71,275 shares during the period. Finally, Fiera Capital Corp boosted its holdings in AtriCure by 28.2% in the fourth quarter. Fiera Capital Corp now owns 881,826 shares of the medical device company’s stock valued at $31,472,000 after acquiring an additional 193,769 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 99.11% of the company’s stock.

AtriCure Stock Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $1.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -26.11 and a beta of 1.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 3.57 and a quick ratio of 2.66. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $28.81 and a 200 day moving average of $33.13.

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.