AtriCure (NASDAQ:ATRC) Shares Gap Up – Should You Buy?

AtriCure, Inc. (NASDAQ:ATRC) shares gapped up prior to trading on Monday . The stock had previously closed at $31.41, but opened at $33.07. AtriCure shares last traded at $33.68, with a volume of 115,706 shares trading hands.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ATRC has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. restated an “overweight” rating and set a $40.00 price objective on shares of AtriCure in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Oppenheimer upped their price objective on shares of AtriCure from $32.00 to $36.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $40.00 target price on shares of AtriCure in a research report on Monday. Canaccord Genuity Group raised their price target on AtriCure from $53.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price objective on AtriCure from $35.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, AtriCure presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $42.00.

AtriCure Stock Performance

The company has a market cap of $1.60 billion, a PE ratio of -39.48 and a beta of 1.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a quick ratio of 2.59 and a current ratio of 3.62. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $33.82 and its 200 day simple moving average is $28.56.

AtriCure (NASDAQ:ATRC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The medical device company reported ($0.17) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.19) by $0.02. AtriCure had a negative net margin of 8.70% and a negative return on equity of 8.12%. The firm had revenue of $115.91 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $112.23 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted ($0.20) earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that AtriCure, Inc. will post -0.72 EPS for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AtriCure

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Champlain Investment Partners LLC grew its position in AtriCure by 4.3% during the third quarter. Champlain Investment Partners LLC now owns 2,790,758 shares of the medical device company’s stock worth $78,253,000 after buying an additional 115,813 shares during the period. First Light Asset Management LLC increased its stake in AtriCure by 42.1% in the 2nd quarter. First Light Asset Management LLC now owns 1,964,703 shares of the medical device company’s stock valued at $44,736,000 after purchasing an additional 581,843 shares in the last quarter. Hood River Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in AtriCure during the second quarter worth $40,422,000. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in AtriCure by 0.4% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,543,896 shares of the medical device company’s stock worth $43,291,000 after purchasing an additional 6,045 shares in the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp grew its holdings in AtriCure by 4.9% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,344,856 shares of the medical device company’s stock valued at $37,710,000 after purchasing an additional 63,002 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.11% of the company’s stock.

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.