Atara Biotherapeutics (NASDAQ:ATRA) Shares Cross Below 50 Day Moving Average – Time to Sell?

Shares of Atara Biotherapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:ATRA) crossed below its 50 day moving average during trading on Wednesday . The stock has a 50 day moving average of $13.98 and traded as low as $4.20. Atara Biotherapeutics shares last traded at $4.60, with a volume of 418,455 shares traded.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ATRA has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Atara Biotherapeutics in a research note on Monday, December 29th. New Street Research set a $6.00 price target on Atara Biotherapeutics in a report on Tuesday, January 13th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group reiterated a “hold” rating and set a $6.00 price objective (down from $25.00) on shares of Atara Biotherapeutics in a report on Tuesday, January 13th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Atara Biotherapeutics has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average price target of $6.00.

Atara Biotherapeutics Stock Performance

The company has a fifty day moving average price of $13.98 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $13.03. The company has a market cap of $33.17 million, a P/E ratio of 2.11 and a beta of -0.41.

Atara Biotherapeutics (NASDAQ:ATRA) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, November 12th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.32) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.83) by $0.51. The business had revenue of $3.45 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.74 million. Atara Biotherapeutics had a negative return on equity of 41.78% and a net margin of 15.40%. Research analysts anticipate that Atara Biotherapeutics, Inc. will post -10.39 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Atara Biotherapeutics

In other Atara Biotherapeutics news, CEO Anhco Nguyen sold 2,915 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, November 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $13.19, for a total value of $38,448.85. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 64,974 shares in the company, valued at $857,007.06. This trade represents a 4.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, major shareholder Innovation Ltd Panacea sold 80,554 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $6.07, for a total transaction of $488,962.78. Following the transaction, the insider owned 1,324,446 shares in the company, valued at $8,039,387.22. This represents a 5.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 87,077 shares of company stock valued at $575,001 over the last three months. 4.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Atara Biotherapeutics

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of ATRA. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Atara Biotherapeutics by 6.6% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 203,438 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $2,915,000 after buying an additional 12,677 shares during the period. Mackenzie Financial Corp raised its stake in Atara Biotherapeutics by 183.5% in 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. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Atara Biotherapeutics by 2.5% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 60,136 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $464,000 after acquiring an additional 1,457 shares during the period. Marshall Wace LLP acquired a new stake in Atara Biotherapeutics during the 2nd quarter valued at $327,000. Finally, GSA Capital Partners LLP boosted its position in Atara Biotherapeutics by 33.8% during the third quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP now owns 26,213 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $376,000 after purchasing an additional 6,622 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 70.90% of the company’s stock.

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.