Needham & Company LLC Issues Pessimistic Forecast for AtriCure (NASDAQ:ATRC) Stock Price

AtriCure (NASDAQ:ATRC - Free Report) had its price objective trimmed by Needham & Company LLC from $51.00 to $44.00 in a research note released on Wednesday morning,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a buy rating on the medical device company's stock.

ATRC has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on shares of AtriCure from $36.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Canaccord Genuity Group reduced their target price on AtriCure from $66.00 to $52.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 28th. Oppenheimer boosted their price target on AtriCure from $36.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on AtriCure from $40.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on AtriCure from $51.00 to $46.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, March 27th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $50.67.

AtriCure Stock Up 2.5 %

ATRC stock traded up $0.73 on Wednesday, hitting $30.02. 855,143 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 655,816. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $33.57 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $34.68. AtriCure has a 12-month low of $18.94 and a 12-month high of $43.11. The stock has a market cap of $1.49 billion, a P/E ratio of -31.60 and a beta of 1.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a quick ratio of 2.62 and a current ratio of 3.65.

AtriCure (NASDAQ:ATRC - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The medical device company reported ($0.14) earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.25) by $0.11. AtriCure had a negative return on equity of 6.80% and a negative net margin of 9.61%. The business had revenue of $123.62 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $122.92 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned ($0.28) earnings per share. The company's revenue was up 13.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that AtriCure will post -0.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at AtriCure

In other news, Director Karen Prange sold 6,100 shares of AtriCure stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $38.12, for a total transaction of $232,532.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 17,828 shares of the company's stock, valued at $679,603.36. The trade was a 25.49 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 3.50% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of AtriCure

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its position in shares of AtriCure by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 56,843 shares of the medical device company's stock valued at $1,569,000 after acquiring an additional 484 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. grew its holdings in AtriCure by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 14,751 shares of the medical device company's stock valued at $414,000 after purchasing an additional 265 shares during the period. KBC Group NV increased its position in shares of AtriCure by 65.3% in the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,360 shares of the medical device company's stock valued at $72,000 after buying an additional 932 shares in the last quarter. R Squared Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of AtriCure in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $89,000. Finally, Heck Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of AtriCure during the 4th quarter worth approximately $60,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.11% of the company's stock.

About AtriCure

AtriCure, Inc develops, manufactures, and sells devices for surgical ablation of cardiac tissue, exclusion of the left atrial appendage, and temporarily blocking pain by ablating peripheral nerves to medical centers in the United States, Europe, the Asia-Pacific, and internationally. The company offers Isolator Synergy Clamps, single-use disposable radio frequency products; multifunctional pens and linear ablation devices, such as the MAX Pen device that enables surgeons to evaluate cardiac arrhythmias, perform temporary cardiac pacing, sensing, and stimulation, and ablate cardiac tissue with the same device; and the Coolrail device, which enables users to make longer linear lines of ablation.