AtriCure (NASDAQ:ATRC) Cut to “Sell” at StockNews.com

AtriCure (NASDAQ:ATRC) was downgraded by equities researchers at StockNews.com from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday.

A number of other research firms have also recently issued reports on ATRC. JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and set a $60.00 target price on shares of AtriCure in a research note on Wednesday, November 29th. Needham & Company LLC raised their target price on shares of AtriCure from $44.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 16th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their target price on AtriCure from $50.00 to $42.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 16th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price target on AtriCure from $57.00 to $58.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 16th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, AtriCure currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $55.57.

AtriCure Trading Up 0.9 %

Shares of ATRC stock opened at $30.42 on Wednesday. AtriCure has a 1 year low of $27.92 and a 1 year high of $59.61. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $33.33 and its 200 day simple moving average is $36.21. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.47 billion, a P/E ratio of -46.09 and a beta of 1.39. The company has a current ratio of 3.57, a quick ratio of 2.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15.

AtriCure (NASDAQ:ATRC) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The medical device company reported ($0.21) earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.22) by $0.01. AtriCure had a negative net margin of 7.62% and a negative return on equity of 7.55%. The business had revenue of $106.50 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $103.68 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned ($0.09) EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 21.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that AtriCure will post -0.71 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other AtriCure news, insider Justin J. Noznesky sold 1,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.72, for a total value of $55,080.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 74,284 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,727,708.48. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, insider Justin J. Noznesky sold 1,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.72, for a total value of $55,080.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 74,284 shares in the company, valued at $2,727,708.48. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Karl S. Dahlquist sold 1,885 shares of AtriCure stock in a transaction on Monday, March 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.16, for a total value of $60,621.60. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 50,954 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,638,680.64. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 11,616 shares of company stock valued at $423,212. Corporate insiders own 3.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. CenterBook Partners LP acquired a new stake in AtriCure during the 3rd quarter worth about $770,000. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in AtriCure by 127.9% in the third quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 116,990 shares of the medical device company’s stock valued at $5,124,000 after buying an additional 65,653 shares during the last quarter. Decheng Capital Management III Cayman LLC purchased a new position in shares of AtriCure during the third quarter worth about $2,026,000. Silvercrest Asset Management Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of AtriCure by 17.5% during the second quarter. Silvercrest Asset Management Group LLC now owns 251,386 shares of the medical device company’s stock worth $12,408,000 after buying an additional 37,506 shares during the period. Finally, Tudor Investment Corp Et Al purchased a new position in AtriCure in the third quarter valued at about $3,838,000. Institutional investors own 99.11% of the company’s stock.

AtriCure Company 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.