Atea Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:AVIR) Sees Significant Increase in Short Interest

Atea Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:AVIR) was the target of a significant growth in short interest during the month of December. As of December 15th, there was short interest totalling 3,180,000 shares, a growth of 21.8% from the November 30th total of 2,610,000 shares. Currently, 4.3% of the company’s shares are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 266,600 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 11.9 days.

Atea Pharmaceuticals Trading Up 1.8 %

Shares of AVIR stock traded up $0.06 on Tuesday, reaching $3.39. 158,643 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 312,285. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $3.28 and its 200 day simple moving average is $3.48. Atea Pharmaceuticals has a 52 week low of $2.75 and a 52 week high of $4.60. The stock has a market capitalization of $286.33 million, a PE ratio of -1.64 and a beta of 0.20.

Atea Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:AVIR) last released its earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The company reported ($0.37) earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.50) by $0.13. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned ($0.40) EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Atea Pharmaceuticals will post -2.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Atea Pharmaceuticals

In other Atea Pharmaceuticals news, Director Franklin M. Berger sold 359,606 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $2.85, for a total transaction of $1,024,877.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 451,897 shares in the company, valued at $1,287,906.45. The trade was a 44.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Company insiders own 17.80% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Atea Pharmaceuticals

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. BML Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Atea Pharmaceuticals by 4.3% in the third quarter. BML Capital Management LLC now owns 6,650,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $22,278,000 after purchasing an additional 274,379 shares during the period. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Atea Pharmaceuticals by 2.8% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 6,618,297 shares of the company’s stock worth $22,171,000 after buying an additional 182,174 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Atea Pharmaceuticals by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,733,486 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,807,000 after buying an additional 11,566 shares during the period. Almitas Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Atea Pharmaceuticals during the 2nd quarter worth $4,271,000. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC increased its stake in shares of Atea Pharmaceuticals by 1.6% during the second quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 1,141,500 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,778,000 after buying an additional 18,100 shares during the period. 86.67% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Atea Pharmaceuticals Company Profile

Atea Pharmaceuticals, Inc, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, discovers, develops, and commercializes antiviral therapeutics for patients with viral infections. Its lead product candidate is AT-527, an oral antiviral candidate that is in Phase 3 SUNRISE-3 clinical trial for the treatment of patients with COVID-19.