aTyr Pharma (NASDAQ:ATYR) Posts Quarterly Earnings Results, Misses Estimates By $0.06 EPS

aTyr Pharma (NASDAQ:ATYR) released its earnings results on Thursday. The company reported ($0.26) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.20) by ($0.06), Zacks reports. The firm had revenue of $0.19 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $0.91 million.

aTyr Pharma Trading Up 6.0%

ATYR traded up $0.05 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $0.82. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 4,496,575 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,944,241. aTyr Pharma has a fifty-two week low of $0.68 and a fifty-two week high of $7.29. The stock has a market cap of $80.05 million, a PE ratio of -1.02 and a beta of 0.81. The business’s 50-day moving average is $1.84 and its 200-day moving average is $3.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a current ratio of 5.63 and a quick ratio of 5.63.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other aTyr Pharma news, Director Paul Schimmel purchased 317,999 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 9th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $0.94 per share, for a total transaction of $298,919.06. Following the acquisition, the director owned 1,413,023 shares in the company, valued at $1,328,241.62. This trade represents a 29.04% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 3.70% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of aTyr Pharma

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in ATYR. Rhumbline Advisers acquired a new position in aTyr Pharma in the second quarter valued at approximately $629,000. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of aTyr Pharma during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $242,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. purchased a new stake in shares of aTyr Pharma during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $208,000. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company acquired a new position in shares of aTyr Pharma in the 2nd quarter valued at $165,000. Finally, New York State Common Retirement Fund acquired a new position in shares of aTyr Pharma in the 2nd quarter valued at $139,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 61.72% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on ATYR. Leerink Partnrs lowered shares of aTyr Pharma from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, September 15th. Wells Fargo & Company reiterated an “equal weight” rating on shares of aTyr Pharma in a report on Monday, September 15th. Cantor Fitzgerald lowered shares of aTyr Pharma from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, September 15th. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of aTyr Pharma in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Jones Trading cut aTyr Pharma from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, September 15th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, aTyr Pharma has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $23.25.

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.