Northern Trust Corp Acquires 50,153 Shares of AtriCure, Inc. (NASDAQ:ATRC)

Northern Trust Corp grew its position in AtriCure, Inc. (NASDAQ:ATRC - Free Report) by 11.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 483,607 shares of the medical device company's stock after acquiring an additional 50,153 shares during the quarter. Northern Trust Corp owned about 0.99% of AtriCure worth $14,779,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Johnson Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in AtriCure by 1,184.1% during the 4th quarter. Johnson Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,618 shares of the medical device company's stock worth $49,000 after buying an additional 1,492 shares during the last quarter. Heck Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in AtriCure in the 4th quarter valued at about $60,000. Venturi Wealth Management LLC increased its position in AtriCure by 1,337.6% during the 4th quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,257 shares of the medical device company's stock worth $69,000 after purchasing an additional 2,100 shares during the period. KBC Group NV lifted its stake in AtriCure by 65.3% in the 4th 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. Finally, Tower Research Capital LLC TRC lifted its stake in AtriCure by 232.7% in the 4th quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 2,871 shares of the medical device company's stock valued at $88,000 after buying an additional 2,008 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.11% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have weighed in on ATRC. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on AtriCure from $36.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Needham & Company LLC lowered their target price on AtriCure from $51.00 to $44.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. JMP Securities restated a "market outperform" rating and set a $60.00 target price on shares of AtriCure in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on shares of AtriCure from $40.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on AtriCure from $51.00 to $46.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, March 27th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $50.67.

Insider Activity at AtriCure

In related news, Director Karen Prange sold 6,100 shares of AtriCure stock in a transaction 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 owns 17,828 shares of the company's stock, valued at $679,603.36. This trade represents a 25.49% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 3.50% of the stock is owned by insiders.

AtriCure Stock Down 0.4%

NASDAQ:ATRC traded down $0.14 on Wednesday, hitting $33.92. 21,001 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 619,310. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $32.40 and a 200-day moving average price of $34.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 3.65 and a quick ratio of 2.62. AtriCure, Inc. has a 52 week low of $18.94 and a 52 week high of $43.11. The company has a market cap of $1.68 billion, a P/E ratio of -35.70 and a beta of 1.57.

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

AtriCure Profile

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.