AtriCure (NASDAQ:ATRC) Raised to Outperform at Oppenheimer

AtriCure (NASDAQ:ATRC) was upgraded by Oppenheimer from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note issued on Tuesday, MarketBeat.com reports. The firm currently has a $32.00 price target on the medical device company’s stock. Oppenheimer’s price objective would indicate a potential upside of 40.91% from the company’s previous close.

ATRC has been the topic of several other research reports. StockNews.com downgraded AtriCure from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 27th. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price objective on AtriCure from $50.00 to $42.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 16th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and set a $46.00 price target on shares of AtriCure in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, UBS Group boosted 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. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $52.63.

AtriCure Trading Down 2.1 %

Shares of ATRC stock opened at $22.71 on Tuesday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $30.61 and a two-hundred day moving average of $34.05. The firm has a market cap of $1.10 billion, a PE ratio of -34.41 and a beta of 1.38. AtriCure has a 1-year low of $22.27 and a 1-year high of $59.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 3.57 and a quick ratio of 2.66.

AtriCure (NASDAQ:ATRC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 15th. The medical device company reported ($0.21) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.22) by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $106.50 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $103.68 million. AtriCure had a negative return on equity of 7.55% and a negative net margin of 7.62%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 21.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned ($0.09) EPS. On average, analysts predict that AtriCure will post -0.71 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at AtriCure

In related news, insider Justin J. Noznesky sold 1,500 shares of the company’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 sale, the insider now directly owns 74,284 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,727,708.48. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, insider Karl S. Dahlquist sold 1,885 shares of the company’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 $1,638,680.64. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Justin J. Noznesky sold 1,500 shares of the 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 sale, 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 sold a total of 13,116 shares of company stock worth $468,797 in the last 90 days. 3.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AtriCure

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in AtriCure by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,766,029 shares of the medical device company’s stock worth $170,100,000 after acquiring an additional 76,146 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in shares of AtriCure by 7.8% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,329,457 shares of the medical device company’s stock worth $47,448,000 after purchasing an additional 95,824 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in shares of AtriCure by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,001,161 shares of the medical device company’s stock worth $35,734,000 after purchasing an additional 9,176 shares in the last quarter. TimesSquare Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in AtriCure by 7.9% during the fourth quarter. TimesSquare Capital Management LLC now owns 976,110 shares of the medical device company’s stock valued at $34,837,000 after purchasing an additional 71,275 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fiera Capital Corp boosted its stake in shares of AtriCure by 28.2% during the 4th quarter. Fiera Capital Corp now owns 881,826 shares of the medical device company’s stock worth $31,472,000 after acquiring an additional 193,769 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.