Atara Biotherapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:ATRA) Short Interest Update

Atara Biotherapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:ATRA) was the target of a large decrease in short interest during the month of November. As of November 15th, there was short interest totalling 519,500 shares, a decrease of 18.4% from the October 31st total of 636,300 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 147,900 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 3.5 days. Currently, 12.4% of the company’s shares are short sold.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Atara Biotherapeutics

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its holdings in Atara Biotherapeutics by 8,916.3% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 4,958,150 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $3,442,000 after purchasing an additional 4,903,159 shares during the last quarter. Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC acquired a new position in Atara Biotherapeutics in the second quarter worth about $79,000. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. bought a new stake in Atara Biotherapeutics in the second quarter valued at about $53,000. FMR LLC grew its position in shares of Atara Biotherapeutics by 41.7% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 25,061 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $204,000 after acquiring an additional 7,381 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vestal Point Capital LP lifted its position in shares of Atara Biotherapeutics by 11.3% in the 3rd quarter. Vestal Point Capital LP now owns 124,677 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $1,014,000 after buying an additional 12,677 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.90% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently weighed in on ATRA shares. Canaccord Genuity Group lifted their target price on shares of Atara Biotherapeutics from $13.00 to $21.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 13th. Mizuho raised Atara Biotherapeutics from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $25.00 to $18.00 in a research note on Friday, August 16th. HC Wainwright reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Atara Biotherapeutics in a research note on Wednesday, August 21st. Finally, TD Cowen raised Atara Biotherapeutics to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, two have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $16.67.

Atara Biotherapeutics Price Performance

Shares of ATRA stock traded up $0.80 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $12.98. The stock had a trading volume of 75,198 shares, compared to its average volume of 106,083. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $9.63 and its 200 day moving average is $9.94. Atara Biotherapeutics has a twelve month low of $6.50 and a twelve month high of $39.50. The firm has a market capitalization of $74.76 million, a PE ratio of -0.47 and a beta of 0.50.

Atara Biotherapeutics (NASDAQ:ATRA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 12th. The biotechnology company reported ($2.93) EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($3.77) by $0.84. The firm had revenue of $40.19 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $23.00 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted ($16.50) EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Atara Biotherapeutics will post -9.42 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.