Atara Biotherapeutics (NASDAQ:ATRA) Upgraded to "Strong-Buy" at TD Cowen

Key Points

• TD Cowen upgraded Atara Biotherapeutics to “Strong Buy,” while other analysts’ ratings range from Sell to Buy. MarketBeat’s consensus rating is “Moderate Buy,” with an average price target of $9.50.
• ATRA shares opened at $9.46 and were down 2.5%; the stock has traded between $3.92 and $19.15 over the past year. The company reported a quarterly loss of $0.32 per share, matching estimates, and revenue of $0.63 million.
• Institutional investors increased their holdings, with hedge funds and other institutions owning 70.9% of the stock. Atara is developing off-the-shelf T-cell therapies, including lead candidate tabelecleucel for EBV-associated diseases.

Atara Biotherapeutics (NASDAQ:ATRA - Get Free Report) was upgraded by research analysts at TD Cowen to a "strong-buy" rating in a report issued on Monday,Zacks.com reports.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Atara Biotherapeutics from a "sell (e+)" rating to a "sell (d-)" rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 18th. Canaccord Genuity Group set a $13.00 price target on shares of Atara Biotherapeutics and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Freedom Capital raised shares of Atara Biotherapeutics from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, May 18th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded Atara Biotherapeutics from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Sunday, August 16th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has issued a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $9.50.

Atara Biotherapeutics Stock Down 2.5%

Shares of ATRA stock opened at $9.46 on Monday. Atara Biotherapeutics has a fifty-two week low of $3.92 and a fifty-two week high of $19.15. The stock has a market cap of $94.98 million, a P/E ratio of -8.02 and a beta of 0.12. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $9.30 and a 200-day simple moving average of $7.47.

Atara Biotherapeutics (NASDAQ:ATRA - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 12th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.32) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of ($0.32). The business had revenue of $0.63 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $0.55 million. Atara Biotherapeutics had a negative return on equity of 79.12% and a negative net margin of 269.42%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Atara Biotherapeutics will post -0.16 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in ATRA. Globeflex Capital L P grew its position in shares of Atara Biotherapeutics by 399.6% in the fourth quarter. Globeflex Capital L P now owns 77,224 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $1,397,000 after purchasing an additional 61,766 shares during the period. Bridgeway Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Atara Biotherapeutics by 133.5% during the fourth quarter. Bridgeway Capital Management LLC now owns 32,691 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $591,000 after buying an additional 18,691 shares during the period. Marshall Wace LLP lifted its position in Atara Biotherapeutics by 28.4% during the fourth quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 148,632 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $2,689,000 after buying an additional 32,836 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC boosted its stake in Atara Biotherapeutics by 58.6% in the 4th quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 30,040 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $543,000 after buying an additional 11,104 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mackenzie Financial Corp boosted 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 worth $914,000 after buying an additional 41,302 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other 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.

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