Atara Biotherapeutics (NASDAQ:ATRA) Releases Earnings Results

Atara Biotherapeutics (NASDAQ:ATRA) announced its earnings results on Tuesday. The biotechnology company reported ($0.15) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.13) by ($0.02), FiscalAI reports. The company had revenue of $1.22 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $0.80 million.

Atara Biotherapeutics Stock Down 2.0%

Shares of Atara Biotherapeutics stock traded down $0.16 on Wednesday, hitting $7.94. 1,835 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 554,077. The stock has a market cap of $79.72 million, a P/E ratio of -6.73 and a beta of 0.28. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $9.02 and its 200 day moving average is $7.80. Atara Biotherapeutics has a 52-week low of $3.92 and a 52-week high of $19.15.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Brian Cherry purchased 104,166 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 4th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $9.60 per share, for a total transaction of $999,993.60. Following the completion of the purchase, the director owned 166,486 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,598,265.60. This represents a 167.15% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Anhco Nguyen sold 5,062 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $8.08, for a total transaction of $40,900.96. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 132,775 shares in the company, valued at $1,072,822. This represents a 3.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. 41.20% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have issued reports on the stock. TD Cowen raised shares of Atara Biotherapeutics to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, August 24th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Atara Biotherapeutics from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, August 16th. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised shares of Atara Biotherapeutics from a “sell (e+)” rating to a “sell (d-)” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 18th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has assigned a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $9.50.

About Atara Biotherapeutics

Atara Biotherapeutics is a biopharmaceutical company focused on developing allogeneic T-cell immunotherapies for cancer and serious diseases associated with Epstein-Barr virus (EBV). The company’s platform uses donor-derived, virus-specific T cells that are designed to recognize and eliminate infected or malignant cells without requiring cells to be collected from each individual patient. Atara’s lead product, tabelecleucel, is marketed in the European Union under the brand name Ebvallo. The therapy is approved for certain adults and children with EBV-positive post-transplant lymphoproliferative disease, a rare and potentially life-threatening complication that can occur after organ or stem-cell transplantation.