AtriCure (NASDAQ:ATRC) Trading Down 6.8% After Analyst Downgrade

AtriCure, Inc. (NASDAQ:ATRC) shares dropped 6.8% during mid-day trading on Friday after Canaccord Genuity Group lowered their price target on the stock from $66.00 to $52.00. Canaccord Genuity Group currently has a buy rating on the stock. AtriCure traded as low as $32.58 and last traded at $32.02. Approximately 44,344 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 93% from the average daily volume of 655,640 shares. The stock had previously closed at $34.37.

A number of other equities analysts have also weighed in on ATRC. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on AtriCure from $36.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and issued a $60.00 price objective on shares of AtriCure in a report on Monday, February 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on shares of AtriCure from $51.00 to $46.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. BTIG Research reissued a “buy” rating on shares of AtriCure in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Piper Sandler lifted their target price on AtriCure from $40.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $49.44.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other AtriCure news, Director Karen Prange sold 6,100 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $38.12, for a total value of $232,532.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 17,828 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $679,603.36. This represents a 25.49 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. 3.20% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in ATRC. Heck Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in AtriCure in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $60,000. Mackenzie Financial Corp purchased a new position in shares of AtriCure in the 4th quarter valued at $465,000. State of Wyoming grew its position in shares of AtriCure by 21.9% in the 4th quarter. State of Wyoming now owns 2,481 shares of the medical device company’s stock valued at $76,000 after buying an additional 446 shares during the last quarter. Sherbrooke Park Advisers LLC acquired a new stake in AtriCure during the 4th quarter worth $330,000. Finally, ProShare Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of AtriCure by 49.0% in the 4th quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 13,330 shares of the medical device company’s stock valued at $407,000 after purchasing an additional 4,385 shares during the last quarter. 99.11% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

AtriCure Stock Performance

The company has a market cap of $1.56 billion, a PE ratio of -33.50 and a beta of 1.53. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $37.97 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $33.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 3.65 and a quick ratio of 2.62.

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.