EcoR1 Capital LLC Sells 473,590 Shares of Atara Biotherapeutics, Inc. $ATRA

EcoR1 Capital LLC decreased its holdings in Atara Biotherapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:ATRA) by 82.6% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 99,593 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after selling 473,590 shares during the quarter. Atara Biotherapeutics accounts for about 0.0% of EcoR1 Capital LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 28th largest position. EcoR1 Capital LLC owned approximately 1.11% of Atara Biotherapeutics worth $471,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Atara Biotherapeutics by 2.5% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 60,136 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $464,000 after acquiring an additional 1,457 shares during the period. Marshall Wace LLP purchased a new position in shares of Atara Biotherapeutics during the 2nd quarter valued at about $327,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Atara Biotherapeutics during the 2nd quarter valued at about $31,000. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Atara Biotherapeutics by 6.6% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 203,438 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $2,915,000 after acquiring an additional 12,677 shares during the period. Finally, Mackenzie Financial Corp grew its stake in shares of Atara Biotherapeutics by 183.5% during the 3rd quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 63,816 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $914,000 after acquiring an additional 41,302 shares during the period. 70.90% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have commented on ATRA. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Atara Biotherapeutics from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, June 27th. Canaccord Genuity Group set a $13.00 price objective on shares of Atara Biotherapeutics and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Freedom Capital upgraded shares of Atara Biotherapeutics from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, May 18th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Atara Biotherapeutics from a “sell (e+)” rating to a “sell (d-)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 15th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $9.50.

Atara Biotherapeutics Trading Down 2.4%

NASDAQ:ATRA opened at $7.71 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $69.47 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -11.51 and a beta of 0.08. Atara Biotherapeutics, Inc. has a twelve month low of $3.92 and a twelve month high of $19.15. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $9.83 and a 200-day simple moving average of $7.17.

Atara Biotherapeutics (NASDAQ:ATRA) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 12th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.29) EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.33) by $0.04. The company had revenue of $0.52 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.90 million. Atara Biotherapeutics had a negative net margin of 40.91% and a negative return on equity of 79.12%. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Atara Biotherapeutics, Inc. will post -0.16 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Atara Biotherapeutics news, CEO Anhco Nguyen sold 5,241 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $9.13, for a total transaction of $47,850.33. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 137,837 shares in the company, valued at $1,258,451.81. This trade represents a 3.66% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, major shareholder Innovation Ltd Panacea sold 313,446 shares of Atara Biotherapeutics stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $10.10, for a total value of $3,165,804.60. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 1,011,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,211,100. This trade represents a 23.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 321,101 shares of company stock valued at $3,235,695 in the last quarter. 41.20% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

About Atara Biotherapeutics

Atara Biotherapeutics, Inc is a biotechnology company focused on the discovery, development and commercialization of novel T-cell immunotherapies to transform the treatment of cancer and autoimmune disease. Headquartered in South San Francisco, California, Atara leverages its proprietary off-the-shelf allogeneic Epstein-Barr virus (EBV)-directed T-cell platform to generate engineered cell therapies designed to target EBV-driven malignancies and immune-mediated disorders.

The company’s lead product candidate, tabelecleucel, is an off-the-shelf, EBV-specific T-cell therapy in clinical development for the treatment of EBV-positive post-transplant lymphoproliferative disease (PTLD) and other EBV-associated cancers.