Atara Biotherapeutics (NASDAQ:ATRA) CAO Sells $22,039.82 in Stock

Atara Biotherapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:ATRA) CAO Yanina Grant-Huerta sold 2,414 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $9.13, for a total transaction of $22,039.82. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 49,636 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $453,176.68. This trade represents a 4.64% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards.

Atara Biotherapeutics Trading Up 4.9%

ATRA stock opened at $9.80 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $88.30 million, a P/E ratio of -14.63 and a beta of -0.30. Atara Biotherapeutics, Inc. has a 12 month low of $3.92 and a 12 month high of $19.15. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $6.11 and a 200-day moving average price of $8.94.

Atara Biotherapeutics (NASDAQ:ATRA) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, May 12th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.29) EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.33) by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $0.52 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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 analysts predict that Atara Biotherapeutics, Inc. will post 0.2 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Key Atara Biotherapeutics News

Here are the key news stories impacting Atara Biotherapeutics this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Investor sentiment has improved after reports that the FDA outlined a regulatory pathway for Atara’s lead candidate, tab-cel, reviving hopes for potential U.S. approval following two prior complete response letters. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Several law firms issued reminders about a May 22 lead-plaintiff deadline in a securities class action against Atara, keeping attention on the company’s legal overhang and potentially limiting gains. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Atara also disclosed insider sales by its CEO and chief accounting officer, but the company said the transactions were made to cover tax withholding tied to equity vesting, which makes them less concerning than open-market selling. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: The newly filed class action and repeated investor-rights solicitations highlight allegations of prior securities-law violations, creating a legal overhang that could weigh on ATRA if investor focus shifts from the FDA path back to litigation risk. Article Title

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ATRA. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings 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 buying an additional 1,457 shares during the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP bought a new position in Atara Biotherapeutics in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $327,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in Atara Biotherapeutics in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Atara Biotherapeutics by 6.6% in the 3rd 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 last quarter. Finally, GSA Capital Partners LLP raised its holdings in Atara Biotherapeutics by 33.8% in the 3rd quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP now owns 26,213 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $376,000 after buying an additional 6,622 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 70.90% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Atara Biotherapeutics from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, May 16th. Freedom Capital upgraded shares of Atara Biotherapeutics from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, May 18th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Atara Biotherapeutics in a report on Friday, March 27th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group set a $13.00 price objective on shares of Atara Biotherapeutics and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $9.50.

Atara Biotherapeutics Company Profile

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.