AtriCure (NASDAQ:ATRC) Shares Gap Up to $22.71

Shares of AtriCure, Inc. (NASDAQ:ATRC) gapped up prior to trading on Tuesday . The stock had previously closed at $22.71, but opened at $23.92. AtriCure shares last traded at $23.97, with a volume of 179,703 shares traded.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have commented on ATRC. StockNews.com downgraded shares of AtriCure from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research 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 research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Oppenheimer upgraded shares of AtriCure from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $32.00 target price for the company in a report on Tuesday. 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 report on Friday, February 16th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus reduced 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. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $52.63.

AtriCure Stock Performance

The company has a current ratio of 3.57, a quick ratio of 2.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $30.61 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $34.05. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.15 billion, a PE ratio of -36.39 and a beta of 1.38.

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

Insider Activity

In other AtriCure news, insider Karl S. Dahlquist sold 8,231 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $37.36, for a total value of $307,510.16. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 52,839 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,974,065.04. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, insider Karl S. Dahlquist sold 8,231 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Justin J. Noznesky sold 1,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owns 74,284 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,727,708.48. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 13,116 shares of company stock worth $468,797 over the last quarter. 3.20% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AtriCure

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC raised its position in 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 purchasing an additional 77,055 shares during the period. CenterBook Partners LP purchased a new position in shares of AtriCure during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $770,000. Decheng Capital Management III Cayman LLC purchased a new stake in AtriCure in the third quarter valued at approximately $2,026,000. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in AtriCure by 127.9% during the third quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 116,990 shares of the medical device company’s stock worth $5,124,000 after purchasing an additional 65,653 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of AtriCure by 0.9% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,689,883 shares of the medical device company’s stock worth $205,417,000 after buying an additional 43,431 shares during the period. 99.11% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.