AtriCure, Inc. (NASDAQ:ATRC) Short Interest Up 17.0% in August

AtriCure, Inc. (NASDAQ:ATRC) was the target of a significant increase in short interest during the month of August. As of August 15th, there was short interest totalling 3,640,000 shares, an increase of 17.0% from the July 31st total of 3,110,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 888,500 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 4.1 days.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Piper Sandler reduced their target price on shares of AtriCure from $65.00 to $40.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. StockNews.com cut shares of AtriCure from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday. BTIG Research reduced their target price on shares of AtriCure from $58.00 to $53.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Needham & Company LLC reduced their target price on shares of AtriCure from $40.00 to $34.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on shares of AtriCure from $34.00 to $30.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $42.44.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Maggie Yuen sold 3,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.07, for a total transaction of $84,245.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 8,970 shares in the company, valued at $215,907.90. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 3.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of AtriCure

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Hood River Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of AtriCure in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $40,422,000. First Light Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of 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 worth $44,736,000 after buying an additional 581,843 shares during the last quarter. Champlain Investment Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of AtriCure by 27.3% in the 1st quarter. Champlain Investment Partners LLC now owns 2,681,000 shares of the medical device company’s stock worth $81,556,000 after buying an additional 575,605 shares during the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of AtriCure by 132.5% in the 2nd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 952,765 shares of the medical device company’s stock worth $21,694,000 after buying an additional 543,023 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Natixis purchased a new position in shares of AtriCure in the 1st quarter worth approximately $9,126,000. 99.11% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

AtriCure Trading Up 1.5 %

Shares of ATRC stock traded up $0.39 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $26.21. 488,005 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 767,524. The company has a quick ratio of 2.83, a current ratio of 4.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. AtriCure has a 12 month low of $18.94 and a 12 month high of $47.13. The stock has a market cap of $1.25 billion, a PE ratio of -32.76 and a beta of 1.44. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $23.18 and its 200 day simple moving average is $25.50.

AtriCure (NASDAQ:ATRC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 30th. The medical device company reported ($0.17) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.17). AtriCure had a negative return on equity of 8.39% and a negative net margin of 9.33%. The company had revenue of $116.27 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $116.24 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned ($0.12) EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 15.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that AtriCure will post -0.77 EPS for the current year.

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.