AtriCure (NASDAQ:ATRC) Hits New 1-Year Low on Analyst Downgrade

AtriCure, Inc. (NASDAQ:ATRC) shares reached a new 52-week low on Thursday after Needham & Company LLC lowered their price target on the stock from $46.00 to $40.00. Needham & Company LLC currently has a buy rating on the stock. AtriCure traded as low as $20.19 and last traded at $21.03, with a volume of 331213 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $24.76.

ATRC has been the subject of several other research reports. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of AtriCure from $57.00 to $58.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 16th. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price objective on shares of AtriCure from $50.00 to $42.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 16th. Oppenheimer upgraded shares of AtriCure from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $32.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 23rd. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of AtriCure from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 27th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, AtriCure presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $51.88.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other AtriCure news, insider Justin J. Noznesky sold 1,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 12th. The shares were 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 directly owns 74,284 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,727,708.48. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, insider Justin J. Noznesky sold 1,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the insider now owns 74,284 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,727,708.48. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Karl S. Dahlquist sold 1,885 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 in the company, valued at approximately $1,638,680.64. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 13,116 shares of company stock valued at $468,797. Company insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AtriCure

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of AtriCure by 165.8% in the fourth quarter. Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC now owns 123,540 shares of the medical device company’s stock valued at $4,409,000 after acquiring an additional 77,055 shares during the period. CenterBook Partners LP purchased a new position in shares of AtriCure in the third quarter valued at about $770,000. Decheng Capital Management III Cayman LLC bought a new stake in shares of AtriCure during the 3rd quarter valued at about $2,026,000. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of AtriCure by 127.9% during the 3rd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 116,990 shares of the medical device company’s stock valued at $5,124,000 after purchasing an additional 65,653 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of AtriCure by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,689,883 shares of the medical device company’s stock valued at $205,417,000 after purchasing an additional 43,431 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.11% of the company’s stock.

AtriCure Price Performance

The business’s 50 day moving average price is $29.30 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $33.32. The stock has a market cap of $1.09 billion, a P/E ratio of -32.02 and a beta of 1.41. 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 quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 15th. The medical device company reported ($0.21) EPS 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 previous year, the firm posted ($0.09) earnings per share. AtriCure’s quarterly revenue was up 21.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that AtriCure, Inc. will post -0.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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.