Panagora Asset Management Inc. Raises Stake in AtriCure, Inc. (NASDAQ:ATRC)

Panagora Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of AtriCure, Inc. (NASDAQ:ATRC - Free Report) by 38.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 229,197 shares of the medical device company's stock after purchasing an additional 63,079 shares during the period. Panagora Asset Management Inc. owned approximately 0.48% of AtriCure worth $8,180,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. RiverPark Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of AtriCure during the 3rd quarter valued at about $27,000. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC boosted its stake in AtriCure by 31.5% during the third quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 2,074 shares of the medical device company's stock worth $91,000 after acquiring an additional 497 shares in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in AtriCure by 22.9% during the fourth quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 6,202 shares of the medical device company's stock worth $221,000 after acquiring an additional 1,155 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC boosted its stake in AtriCure by 38.2% during the third quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 8,715 shares of the medical device company's stock worth $382,000 after acquiring an additional 2,408 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Acadian Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in AtriCure by 20.7% during the third quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 8,877 shares of the medical device company's stock worth $387,000 after acquiring an additional 1,525 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 99.11% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ATRC has been the topic of several research reports. Needham & Company LLC dropped their price objective on shares of AtriCure from $46.00 to $40.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of AtriCure from $42.00 to $34.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 2nd. Oppenheimer raised shares of AtriCure from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $32.00 target price for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 23rd. StockNews.com cut shares of AtriCure from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Wednesday, March 27th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group decreased their target price on shares of AtriCure from $57.00 to $49.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $49.78.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Justin J. Noznesky sold 1,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.72, for a total transaction of $55,080.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 74,284 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,727,708.48. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, insider Justin J. Noznesky sold 1,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.72, for a total transaction of $55,080.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 74,284 shares in the company, valued at $2,727,708.48. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Karl S. Dahlquist sold 1,885 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.16, for a total transaction of $60,621.60. Following the sale, the insider now owns 50,954 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,638,680.64. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 14,616 shares of company stock valued at $504,932 over the last three months. Insiders own 3.20% of the company's stock.

AtriCure Stock Performance

Shares of ATRC traded up $0.51 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $23.14. 533,655 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 814,542. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 2.83 and a current ratio of 4.00. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $26.06 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $32.25. AtriCure, Inc. has a 1 year low of $20.19 and a 1 year high of $59.61. The stock has a market cap of $1.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -28.93 and a beta of 1.41.

AtriCure (NASDAQ:ATRC - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 1st. The medical device company reported ($0.25) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.23) by ($0.02). AtriCure had a negative net margin of 8.98% and a negative return on equity of 7.85%. The company had revenue of $108.90 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $106.86 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned ($0.23) earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 16.5% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts anticipate that AtriCure, Inc. will post -0.75 earnings per share for the current year.

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.