Atara Biotherapeutics (NASDAQ:ATRA) Announces Earnings Results

Key Points

• Atara Biotherapeutics reported a quarterly loss of $0.15 per share, missing analyst expectations of a $0.13 loss; revenue of $1.22 million beat the $0.80 million consensus estimate.
• The shares fell 1.0% to $8.10 on Tuesday. Analysts’ average rating was “Moderate Buy,” with an average price target of $9.50.
• Director Brian N. Cherry bought 104,166 shares for about $1 million, while CEO Anhco Nguyen sold 5,062 shares to cover tax withholding on vested equity awards.

Atara Biotherapeutics (NASDAQ:ATRA - Get Free Report) announced its earnings results on Tuesday. The biotechnology company reported ($0.15) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.13) by ($0.02), FiscalAI reports. The firm had revenue of $1.22 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $0.80 million.

Atara Biotherapeutics Stock Down 1.0%

NASDAQ ATRA traded down $0.08 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $8.10. The company's stock had a trading volume of 33,145 shares, compared to its average volume of 556,640. Atara Biotherapeutics has a twelve month low of $3.92 and a twelve month high of $19.15. The firm has a market capitalization of $81.32 million, a P/E ratio of -6.86 and a beta of 0.28. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $9.04 and a 200 day moving average of $7.78.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the stock. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Atara Biotherapeutics from a "sell (e+)" rating to a "sell (d-)" rating in a report on Tuesday, August 18th. TD Cowen upgraded Atara Biotherapeutics to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Monday, August 24th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded Atara Biotherapeutics from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Sunday, August 16th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has issued a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $9.50.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Brian N. Cherry purchased 104,166 shares of Atara Biotherapeutics stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 4th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $9.60 per share, for a total transaction of $999,993.60. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 166,486 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,598,265.60. This trade represents a 167.15% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Anhco Nguyen sold 5,062 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, August 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $8.08, for a total value of $40,900.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 132,775 shares in the company, valued at $1,072,822. This represents a 3.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. 41.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Atara Biotherapeutics Company Profile

Atara Biotherapeutics is a biopharmaceutical company focused on developing allogeneic T-cell immunotherapies for cancer and serious diseases associated with Epstein-Barr virus (EBV). The company's platform uses donor-derived, virus-specific T cells that are designed to recognize and eliminate infected or malignant cells without requiring cells to be collected from each individual patient. Atara's lead product, tabelecleucel, is marketed in the European Union under the brand name Ebvallo. The therapy is approved for certain adults and children with EBV-positive post-transplant lymphoproliferative disease, a rare and potentially life-threatening complication that can occur after organ or stem-cell transplantation.

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