Atara Biotherapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:ATRA) Short Interest Update

Atara Biotherapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:ATRA) was the target of a large increase in short interest in September. As of September 30th, there was short interest totalling 526,400 shares, an increase of 13.7% from the September 15th total of 463,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 116,400 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 4.5 days. Approximately 13.3% of the shares of the stock are sold short.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Atara Biotherapeutics

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its position in Atara Biotherapeutics by 29.3% during the first quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 383,082 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $266,000 after acquiring an additional 86,842 shares during the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC grew its stake in Atara Biotherapeutics by 49.5% during the first quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 2,638,687 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $1,830,000 after purchasing an additional 873,133 shares during the period. Delap Wealth Advisory LLC bought a new stake in Atara Biotherapeutics in the first quarter worth approximately $29,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its stake in Atara Biotherapeutics by 8,916.3% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 4,958,150 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $3,442,000 after buying an additional 4,903,159 shares during the period. Finally, Redmile Group LLC lifted its stake in Atara Biotherapeutics by 1.7% in the first quarter. Redmile Group LLC now owns 9,263,309 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $6,429,000 after buying an additional 156,863 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 70.90% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ATRA has been the topic of a number of research reports. StockNews.com started coverage on shares of Atara Biotherapeutics in a research note on Wednesday, June 26th. They set a “hold” rating on the stock. Canaccord Genuity Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $13.00 target price on shares of Atara Biotherapeutics in a research report on Tuesday, August 13th. Mizuho upgraded Atara Biotherapeutics from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $25.00 to $18.00 in a report on Friday, August 16th. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price objective on shares of Atara Biotherapeutics from $12.50 to $11.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. Finally, HC Wainwright reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Atara Biotherapeutics in a report on Wednesday, August 21st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Atara Biotherapeutics presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $14.00.

Atara Biotherapeutics Trading Up 2.8 %

Shares of ATRA stock opened at $8.38 on Wednesday. Atara Biotherapeutics has a 1-year low of $4.96 and a 1-year high of $40.92. The stock has a market cap of $40.37 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -0.16 and a beta of 0.50. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $7.81 and a 200-day moving average of $11.49.

Atara Biotherapeutics (NASDAQ:ATRA) last released its earnings results on Monday, August 12th. The biotechnology company reported ($3.10) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.56) by ($1.54). The business had revenue of $28.64 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $48.30 million. Sell-side analysts forecast that Atara Biotherapeutics will post -12.09 earnings per share for the current year.

Atara Biotherapeutics Company Profile

Atara Biotherapeutics, Inc develops therapies for patients with solid tumors, hematologic cancers, and autoimmune diseases in the United States. Its lead product includes Tab-cel (tabelecleucel), a T-cell immunotherapy program that is in Phase 3 clinical trials for the treatment of epstein-barr virus (EBV) driven post-transplant lymphoproliferative disease, as well as nasopharyngeal carcinoma.