Atyr PHARMA INC (NASDAQ:ATYR) Short Interest Update

Atyr PHARMA INC (NASDAQ:ATYR) saw a large increase in short interest in the month of February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 5,260,000 shares, an increase of 20.9% from the February 13th total of 4,350,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 1,140,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 4.6 days. Currently, 6.5% of the shares of the company are sold short.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Cantor Fitzgerald assumed coverage on shares of Atyr PHARMA in a report on Monday, January 6th. They set an “overweight” rating on the stock. Leerink Partners assumed coverage on shares of Atyr PHARMA in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $16.00 target price on the stock. Leerink Partnrs upgraded shares of Atyr PHARMA to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, HC Wainwright reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $35.00 target price on shares of Atyr PHARMA in a research report on Friday. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $18.60.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Atyr PHARMA

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ATYR. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in Atyr PHARMA by 52.0% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 31,440 shares of the company’s stock valued at $55,000 after buying an additional 10,754 shares in the last quarter. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Atyr PHARMA during the fourth quarter worth approximately $170,000. Alterna Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Atyr PHARMA during the fourth quarter worth approximately $36,000. D.A. Davidson & CO. acquired a new position in shares of Atyr PHARMA during the fourth quarter worth approximately $141,000. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Atyr PHARMA during the fourth quarter worth approximately $144,000. 61.72% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Atyr PHARMA Price Performance

Shares of Atyr PHARMA stock opened at $4.01 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $336.61 million, a P/E ratio of -4.27 and a beta of 0.98. Atyr PHARMA has a twelve month low of $1.42 and a twelve month high of $4.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02, a quick ratio of 5.41 and a current ratio of 5.41. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $3.65 and its 200-day simple moving average is $3.09.

Atyr PHARMA (NASDAQ:ATYR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 13th. The company reported ($0.18) EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.23) by $0.05. As a group, research analysts expect that Atyr PHARMA will post -0.91 EPS for the current fiscal year.

About Atyr PHARMA

aTyr Pharma, Inc engages in the discovery and development of medicines based on novel biological pathways. Its product pipeline includes ATYR1923, ATYR2810, NRP2 mAbs, and AARS-1, DARS-1. The company was founded by Paul Schimmel, Xiang-Lei Yang and Bruce Beutler on September 8, 2005 and is headquartered in San Diego, CA.