Needham & Company LLC Reiterates “Buy” Rating for AtriCure (NASDAQ:ATRC)

AtriCure (NASDAQ:ATRC)‘s stock had its “buy” rating restated by research analysts at Needham & Company LLC in a research report issued to clients and investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $51.00 target price on the medical device company’s stock. Needham & Company LLC’s price objective would indicate a potential upside of 60.23% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other equities analysts also recently commented on the stock. Oppenheimer boosted their target price on shares of AtriCure from $36.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and set a $60.00 price target on shares of AtriCure in a research note on Monday, February 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of AtriCure from $40.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on AtriCure from $36.00 to $48.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group boosted their price objective on shares of AtriCure from $61.00 to $66.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, AtriCure has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $49.44.

AtriCure Stock Performance

ATRC opened at $31.83 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $1.56 billion, a P/E ratio of -33.50 and a beta of 1.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 3.65 and a quick ratio of 2.62. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $37.97 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $33.93. AtriCure has a 1-year low of $18.94 and a 1-year high of $43.11.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other AtriCure news, Director Karen Prange sold 6,100 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $38.12, for a total transaction of $232,532.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 17,828 shares in the company, valued at $679,603.36. This represents a 25.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 3.20% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AtriCure

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in ATRC. Johnson Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of AtriCure by 1,184.1% during the fourth quarter. Johnson Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,618 shares of the medical device company’s stock valued at $49,000 after buying an additional 1,492 shares during the last quarter. Heck Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in AtriCure during the 4th quarter valued at about $60,000. Venturi Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of AtriCure by 1,337.6% in the 4th quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,257 shares of the medical device company’s stock valued at $69,000 after purchasing an additional 2,100 shares during the last quarter. KBC Group NV grew its position in AtriCure by 65.3% during the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,360 shares of the medical device company’s stock worth $72,000 after purchasing an additional 932 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State of Wyoming increased its stake in AtriCure by 21.9% during the 4th quarter. State of Wyoming now owns 2,481 shares of the medical device company’s stock valued at $76,000 after purchasing an additional 446 shares in the last quarter. 99.11% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other 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.