AtriCure (NASDAQ:ATRC) Shares Up 3.2%

AtriCure, Inc. (NASDAQ:ATRC)’s stock price shot up 3.2% during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $23.95 and last traded at $23.84. 145,235 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 78% from the average session volume of 668,463 shares. The stock had previously closed at $23.10.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently weighed in on ATRC. StockNews.com lowered shares of AtriCure from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 27th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $46.00 price objective on shares of AtriCure in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price objective on shares of 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 raised their price objective on shares of AtriCure from $57.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 16th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, AtriCure has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $55.57.

AtriCure Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 3.57 and a quick ratio of 2.66. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $31.03 and its 200 day moving average price is $34.42. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.11 billion, a P/E ratio of -35.41 and a beta of 1.38.

AtriCure (NASDAQ:ATRC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The medical device company reported ($0.21) EPS for the quarter, beating 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 analysts’ expectations of $103.68 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned ($0.09) earnings per share. AtriCure’s revenue was up 21.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that AtriCure, Inc. will post -0.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Karl S. Dahlquist sold 8,231 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $37.36, for a total transaction of $307,510.16. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 52,839 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,974,065.04. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other AtriCure news, insider Karl S. Dahlquist sold 8,231 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $37.36, for a total value of $307,510.16. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 52,839 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,974,065.04. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Justin J. Noznesky sold 1,500 shares of the firm’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 in the company, valued at $2,727,708.48. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 13,116 shares of company stock valued at $468,797 over the last three months. 3.20% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AtriCure

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Snowden Capital Advisors LLC boosted its stake in AtriCure by 3.5% in the first quarter. Snowden Capital Advisors LLC now owns 7,400 shares of the medical device company’s stock valued at $307,000 after acquiring an additional 250 shares during the last quarter. State of Wyoming boosted its position in shares of AtriCure by 34.6% during the second quarter. State of Wyoming now owns 1,030 shares of the medical device company’s stock worth $51,000 after purchasing an additional 265 shares in the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of AtriCure by 4.4% during the second quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 6,791 shares of the medical device company’s stock worth $335,000 after purchasing an additional 286 shares in the last quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. boosted its position in shares of AtriCure by 15.0% during the fourth quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 2,444 shares of the medical device company’s stock worth $108,000 after purchasing an additional 319 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mariner LLC boosted its position in shares of AtriCure by 6.3% during the fourth quarter. Mariner LLC now owns 5,715 shares of the medical device company’s stock worth $254,000 after purchasing an additional 337 shares in the last quarter. 99.11% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.