AtriCure, Inc. (NASDAQ:ATRC) Receives $55.57 Consensus Target Price from Analysts

Shares of AtriCure, Inc. (NASDAQ:ATRC) have received a consensus rating of “Buy” from the five analysts that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a buy recommendation. The average twelve-month price objective among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $55.57.

Several brokerages have commented on ATRC. StockNews.com lowered shares of AtriCure from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 27th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price target on shares of AtriCure from $50.00 to $42.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 16th. UBS Group raised their price target 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. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $46.00 price objective on shares of AtriCure in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th.

AtriCure Price Performance

ATRC opened at $22.90 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $1.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -34.70 and a beta of 1.38. AtriCure has a fifty-two week low of $22.48 and a fifty-two week high of $59.61. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $31.80 and its 200 day moving average price is $34.87. The company has a quick ratio of 2.66, a current ratio of 3.57 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15.

AtriCure (NASDAQ:ATRC) last announced 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 company had revenue of $106.50 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $103.68 million. During the same quarter last year, the business 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 expect that AtriCure will post -0.71 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related 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 transaction of $307,510.16. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 52,839 shares in the company, valued at $1,974,065.04. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In related 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 transaction of $307,510.16. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 52,839 shares in the company, valued at $1,974,065.04. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Karl S. Dahlquist sold 1,885 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.16, for a total transaction of $60,621.60. Following the completion of the transaction, 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. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 13,116 shares of company stock worth $468,797. Corporate insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AtriCure

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ATRC. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. boosted its stake in AtriCure by 47.7% in the 1st quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 5,975 shares of the medical device company’s stock worth $392,000 after purchasing an additional 1,931 shares during the period. AlphaCrest Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in AtriCure in the 1st quarter worth approximately $343,000. MetLife Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of AtriCure by 54.8% during the 1st quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 24,141 shares of the medical device company’s stock valued at $1,585,000 after buying an additional 8,549 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of AtriCure by 7.0% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 717,125 shares of the medical device company’s stock valued at $47,092,000 after buying an additional 46,705 shares during the period. Finally, Sei Investments Co. boosted its stake in shares of AtriCure by 0.5% during the 1st quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 94,103 shares of the medical device company’s stock valued at $6,182,000 after buying an additional 461 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.