AtriCure (NASDAQ:ATRC) Shares Up 3.2%

AtriCure, Inc. (NASDAQ:ATRC) shares traded 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 traded hands 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.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on ATRC shares. StockNews.com lowered 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 target price on shares of AtriCure in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. UBS Group upped their target price on AtriCure from $57.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 16th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lowered their target price on AtriCure from $50.00 to $42.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 16th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $55.57.

AtriCure Price Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $1.11 billion, a PE ratio of -35.41 and a beta of 1.38. The business has a 50-day moving average of $31.03 and a 200 day moving average of $34.42. 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 released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The medical device company reported ($0.21) EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.22) by $0.01. The business had revenue of $106.50 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $103.68 million. AtriCure had a negative return on equity of 7.55% and a negative net margin of 7.62%. AtriCure’s quarterly revenue was up 21.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted ($0.09) EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that AtriCure, Inc. will post -0.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at AtriCure

In other AtriCure news, insider Karl S. Dahlquist sold 8,231 shares of the company’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 completion of 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 filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other AtriCure news, insider Justin J. Noznesky sold 1,500 shares of the company’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 approximately $2,727,708.48. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Karl S. Dahlquist sold 8,231 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 52,839 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,974,065.04. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 13,116 shares of company stock valued at $468,797. 3.20% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in ATRC. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of AtriCure by 47.7% during the 1st quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 5,975 shares of the medical device company’s stock worth $392,000 after acquiring an additional 1,931 shares during the period. AlphaCrest Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of AtriCure during the 1st quarter worth $343,000. MetLife Investment Management LLC grew 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 worth $1,585,000 after acquiring an additional 8,549 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew 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 worth $47,092,000 after acquiring an additional 46,705 shares during the period. Finally, Sei Investments Co. grew 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 worth $6,182,000 after acquiring an additional 461 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 99.11% of the company’s stock.

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.