Staley Capital Advisers Inc. Acquires 30,000 Shares of Atara Biotherapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:ATRA)

Key Points

• Staley Capital Advisers Inc. increased its holdings in Atara Biotherapeutics by 60%, owning 80,000 shares valued at approximately $475,000 by the end of the first quarter.
• Major shareholder Innovation Ltd Panacea purchased 19,335 shares at an average cost of $9.64, increasing its position in the company by 1.45%.
• Atara Biotherapeutics recently reported an impressive $3.50 EPS for the quarter, significantly beating analysts' estimates of ($3.07) and highlighting a revenue of $98.10 million.

Staley Capital Advisers Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Atara Biotherapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:ATRA - Free Report) by 60.0% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 80,000 shares of the biotechnology company's stock after acquiring an additional 30,000 shares during the period. Staley Capital Advisers Inc. owned approximately 1.34% of Atara Biotherapeutics worth $475,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in ATRA. Marshall Wace LLP bought a new position in shares of Atara Biotherapeutics during the fourth quarter valued at about $332,000. Birchview Capital LP bought a new position in shares of Atara Biotherapeutics during the fourth quarter valued at about $293,000. Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC bought a new position in shares of Atara Biotherapeutics during the fourth quarter valued at about $169,000. Northern Trust Corp bought a new position in shares of Atara Biotherapeutics during the fourth quarter valued at about $149,000. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Atara Biotherapeutics by 17.2% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 54,744 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $729,000 after acquiring an additional 8,024 shares during the last quarter. 70.90% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, major shareholder Innovation Ltd Panacea purchased 19,335 shares of Atara Biotherapeutics stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 17th. The shares were bought at an average price of $9.64 per share, for a total transaction of $186,389.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 1,350,000 shares of the company's stock, valued at $13,014,000. This represents a 1.45% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 4.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Atara Biotherapeutics Stock Up 4.8%

Shares of NASDAQ:ATRA traded up $0.57 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $12.29. 65,811 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 112,672. The stock has a market capitalization of $86.28 million, a PE ratio of -28.57 and a beta of 0.26. The business's 50 day moving average is $9.77 and its two-hundred day moving average is $8.10. Atara Biotherapeutics, Inc. has a one year low of $5.01 and a one year high of $18.70.

Atara Biotherapeutics (NASDAQ:ATRA - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 11th. The biotechnology company reported $0.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.32) by $0.51. Atara Biotherapeutics had a net margin of 3.07% and a negative return on equity of 8.34%. The company had revenue of $17.58 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $4.23 million. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Atara Biotherapeutics, Inc. will post -10.39 earnings per share for the current year.

About Atara Biotherapeutics

Atara Biotherapeutics, Inc engages in the development of transformative therapies for patients with solid tumors, hematologic cancers, and autoimmune diseases in the United States and the United Kingdom. Its lead product includes Tab-cel (tabelecleucel), a T-cell immunotherapy program that is in Phase 3 clinical trials for the treatment of epstein-barr virus (EBV) driven post-transplant lymphoproliferative disease, as well as nasopharyngeal carcinoma.